The organizers of Ban the Bottle, an environmental initiative dedicated to ending the sale of single-use water bottles at the school, have a long road ahead of them to make their idea a reality.

Senior Nathan Evans was on a college visit to Tufts University when he first saw this initiative in action. The university had “bottleless days,” when no one bought plastic water bottles. Evans returned ready to work, and with the help of his friend, senior Oliver Banton, developed a business plan for Ban the Bottle.

The initiative seeks to eliminate the sale of single-use water bottles and replace them with highly subsidized reusable water bottles. “Hydration stations,” machines for refilling such bottles, would be installed in the school to encourage their use, according to Evans and Banton.

The approximate cost of the project will be from $8,000 to $9,000, according to Evans and Banton’s estimate. The boys said they are seeking out grants and potential sponsors. Banton described looking into a fundraising concert and a basketball tournament as well. Evans said they hope that once they get started, the town will provide additional funding.

Besides finding the money to make Ban the Bottle a reality, Evans and Banton face another important problem. The cafeteria makes a lot of money from selling single-use bottles, and according to cafeteria manager Lyse Forte, the cafeteria would never be able to fully recover from the loss of those sales.

“I think it’ll have a negative impact,” said Forte, “because we won’t be able to sell water, we won’t be able to sell juices, we won’t be able to sell Powerade, VitaminWater. That will take away a lot of our business.”

The seniors have promoted the project amongst their friends and have spoken with Mary Minott, the faculty adviser of the Environmental Action Club, about collaborating in the future.

“We actually have been working on reducing our use of plastic water bottles for quite some time,” Minott said.

Evans is confident that the school’s various student groups, such as the Environmental Action Club, will help him continue to make progress.

“I know they have a solid base of students that are really interested in the issue,” said Evans. “So when we go to them with this project, then they’ll give us a lot of support.”

So far, mostly seniors have worked on Ban the Bottle, with minimal participation from the younger grades. Evans and Banton hope their class’ senior gift will be the first of many hydration stations.

Evans and Banton, who do not have a clear time frame planned out yet, are hunting for younger volunteers to keep the project alive after the current senior class is gone.

“We’d have to build a future because of course, not everything is going to happen in the time we’re here. Since we’re only here for six more months, and so we need kids who are interested and passionate to hopefully continue the project, continue the initiative,” said Banton. “We’re trying to get a core group of kids who seem really into it, really passionate about the job to come together.”

There is certainly an element of leadership in this project as the organizers try to inspire younger students to join them.

“When I was little, I used to look up to seniors and emulate my behavior after them,” said Evans. “When freshmen and sophomores see seniors doing something good for the community and good for the school, then I think that’s great because then they’ll want to do it.”

Evans hopes the idea will spread to Brookline elementary schools as well, and possibly even to high schools in nearby towns.

“Here is the first step,” said Evans.

“We’re not sure if we envision everything being in place this year,” said Banton, “but we envision it for the future.”

Ben Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected]