The Ledyard High School lunch program recently started selling boxed water. Chartwells, the lunch company Ledyard hired, has made many changes to the meals and the new water is just another adjustment.

The company, called “Boxed Water,” takes extra steps to ensure and promote environmentally friendly practices. According to their website, their mission is to “inspire a better tomorrow by rethinking packaged water today.”

They provide water that has undergone a 5-step filtration process, which assures that it’s clean and safe for drinking. Additionally, the boxed water carton is made of 76% paper and is 100% recyclable. The company also utilizes efficient shipping to reduce their carbon footprint and annually donates 1% of their revenue to The National Forest Foundation and Water.org.

The day LHS started selling them, the water sold out quickly and several students were seen with a boxed water carton. Sophomores Carlie Smith and Rose Jean purchased the water but had negative reviews.

“I didn’t really like it — it tasted kinda like cardboard. But the container was cool looking,” Smith said. She was drawn to its aesthetic qualities, but the taste didn’t sit well with her. “[It’s] probably [environmentally friendly] but I could smell somewhat of a chlorine smell or something though so I don’t know,” she said.

“I do not [like the boxed water]. The water tastes like cardboard. Plus it was awkward to hold and drink from,” Jean said. She questioned the functionality of the boxed container, but she did believe its environmental benefits, noting that it would be easier to biodegrade compared to plastic bottles.

Freshman Jolie Suarez did not even comment on the appearance of the bottle, but instead launched straight into discussion about the environment.
“I think boxed water would help the environment to a certain extent. It’s really a battle between pollution and the killing of trees. Yes, boxed water would get rid of the dilemma of the chemicals in water bottles that are given off when they are left to decompose, and the chemicals given off when they are created, but it also adds on to another problem: the killing of trees,” Suarez said.

Carina Wang, Staff Writer

Sophomore Carina Wang is a staff writer for the 2015-2016 Colonel. She is on the FIRST Robotics team.