The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board is looking to join the push to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles.
Trustee Kim Bouchard has asked the board to investigate the installation of water bottle filling stations, first at the Catholic Education Centre on California Ave., then expanding to all schools across the system.
After the stations are installed at all sites, Bouchard plans to ask for a complete ban on plastic water bottles.
"Roughly 40% of our schools already have water bottle filling stations installed in them. So this is just a way to expedite that and get all of the schools on board, then we can move toward the second part of my motion which is to ban the single-use plastic water bottles in all of our schools," she says.
Bouchard says many schools have already been asking for the filling stations.
"I think it's on all of the schools wish lists and I know that the schools that do that them, they love them," she says. "Some of the schools, the kids actually took it upon themselves to raise the money to get the funds to put these into their schools. So the kids want them. They're very, very well used."
Bouchard says she'd like an education campaign to be part of the initiative as well.
"I think the kids will probably teach us more than we would teach them, but that piece is important as well, just to make sure everybody gets the reason for why we want to ban the plastic bottles. It's time, it's a small step, it's a really good start," she says.
The Greater Essex County District School Board and several municipalities have already begun the process of eliminating single-use plastics.
With files from Rob Hindi