The University of Vermont imposed a complete ban on the sale of bottled water on the campus from Monday. Water bottles henceforth shall not be available in vending machines, retail outlets or dining halls.

The varsity is the latest in a series of colleges that have tried to end the bottled water culture. The university hosted a "Bottled Water Retirement Party" last December.

The movement to end bottled water usage at the University of Vermont began four years ago. The Vermont Students Toward Environmental Protection (VSTEP) has led the campaign in the interest of preserving the future environment by recycling.

VSTEP is a student run, nonprofit organization created in 1988 to expand UVM's recycling program and address environmental issues on Vermont campuses.

The students were asked to use refillable bottles instead of buying water bottles and generating non-biodegradable waste.

In a bid to promote the bottled-water-free future campaign among the students, the administration has decided to turn water fountains into filling stations around the campus.

"To promote the use of refillable water bottles, UVM is converting 75 drinking fountains on campus to filling stations, which feature a spout to fill them, at a cost of about $30,000. Sixty-nine drinking fountains have currently been converted; the remainder will be completed before the start of the second semester in mid-January," the university said in a release earlier.

Only 22 colleges have implemented full bottled water ban. Meanwhile, UVM is the first public university in the country to end sale of bottled water. St. Louis in Washington University became the first known school to end the sale of bottled water and restrict the use of university funds to purchase it for meetings and events.

"It's much more convenient to fill up your water bottle at a water fountain than to buy bottled water," said Mikayla McDonald, a recent graduate, who a few years ago helped to launch the campaign that led to UVM's ban, according to NRP.

"Bottled water is a symbol of our culture's obsession with commodifying things that should be public trust resources," she added.