Kickstart: Evian offering bottle refill stations at Wimbledon, but it'll cost you

Water bottle refill stations at big events have become a sustainability standard to cut back on single-use plastics. And for eventgoers, it's cheap — just bring your own bottle and fill it again and again from free water stations.

But a new project from water brand Evian at the 2024 Wimbledon tennis championships starting July 1 would charge 5 pounds (a little more than $6) for a QR code fans can print out to access refill stations featuring the mineral water, although they could still access public tap water for free.

That has me asking: Is this about sustainability or just a cash grab?

Evian installed refill stations for players on Wimbledon courts for the 2023 tournament. That may have cut back on some bottle usage among athletes. And I suppose that there's an argument to be made that some of the 500,000 attendees who absolutely refuse to drink tap water could likewise cut back on plastic use through the Evian refill points.

But the site is still selling plastic Evian bottles for anyone who didn't bring their own, a 750-milliliter plastic bottle, priced at nearly 3 pounds. (A stainless steel reusable bottle is priced at 25 pounds, but at least that comes with the QR code, rather than requiring a separate purchase.)

Reduce, reuse and recycle isn't just a theme for water bottles. Big, multiday music festivals are invoking the same concept when it comes to camping gear used by attendees.

The Association of Independent Festivals estimates 250,000 tents — along with coolers, sleeping bags and other camping gear — are abandoned at music festivals each year, just in the United Kingdom.

The environmental group Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) notes that the typical four-person tent can use the same amount of plastic as 22 Coldplay vinyl records. The Electric Forest festival that just wrapped up June 23 in Rothbury, Mich., thinks it has one solution to all that waste, encouraging its attendees to donate camping gear on their way out of town.

All gear that is still in good shape is being donated to a county youth organization and to the homeless, organizers said.

Office furniture company Steelcase Inc. will push its suppliers to cut their carbon emissions as part of its own net zero push.

Earlier this month, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company said it is setting its sights on a 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.

That will require participation by its supply base, President and CEO Sara Armbruster said in a sustainability report.

"Carbon emissions from purchased goods and transportation and distribution represent almost 70 percent of our total footprint," Armbruster noted. It will work with its suppliers to set their own "science-based targets" for carbon reduction by 2025.

Steelcase, despite the emphasis on metal within its name, uses plastics throughout its product line. In addition to standard resins, in 2022 it introduced its first product made from chemically recycled plastics, the Flex Perch Stool, using nylon 6 from BASF's Ccycled line.