A middle school student is on a mission to eliminate plastic bottles on Hawaii Island — one specialized refill station at a time.
Holualoa Elementary School received a $7,000 FloWater machine Friday morning as part of a goal of Nikki Montenegro to reduce the use of plastic bottles — as well as to provide fresh, seven-times-filtered water for the public school students — on Hawaii Island and beyond.
“I’m feeling super excited about this day,” said 13-year-old Nikki Montenegro as the equipment was installed outside the school’s cafeteria. “This is going to help with water quality. We want to do this in more schools too, and public places like the airport, parks, and others.”
So far, Hawaii Preparatory Academy has received a FloWater device, and Wimea Middle School is next to come. Other schools are part of the plan.
Friday’s installation was the culmination of what began as a rather large idea Montenegro had to clean up the oceans when she took part in an internship with the Keahole Center for Sustainability at the Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kailua-Kona.
“I started off wanting to help the environment, I guess I just watch too many documentaries,” said Montenegro.
Working with her mentor at the center, executive director Candee Ellsworth, Montenegro narrowed her focus to reducing single-use plastic bottles on Hawaii Island. To make a dent in the number of bottles used, Montenegro set out to install refill stations at schools around the island with the goal of expanding to airports and other public places.
According to Ellsworth and Montenegro, there are over 30,000 students (not counting staff) at 42 different schools on Hawaii Island. While schools have drinking fountains, they were made obsolete during the pandemic, resulting in the use of more bottles.
“If every student were to bring one plastic bottle of water daily for the 173 days of a typical school year, it would generate 5.19 million plastic water bottles going to our local landfill,” Ellsworth said.
And Montenegro didn’t stop there. To ensure the pupils have fresh water, particularly at older facilities with aging infrastructure like at Holuloa, which opened 125 years ago, Montenegro found the FloWater system, which runs tap water through seven different filters before it’s dispensed.
Funding for the FloWater machines came from two anonymous donors via the Hawaii Community Foundation who viewed a video Montenegro created after attending a TEDx Program during the pandemic. With the donations, five water purifiers were purchased at $7,000 a piece.
FloWater bills itself as a provider of a new type of water that’s delivered through a sustainable, state-of-the-art refill station. It takes existing tap water and purifies it seven times by removing toxins and contaminants, then enhancing it with healthy minerals.
For Holualoa Elementary School, Friday’s installation of the FloWater machine was a big day.
“You can think about it and dream about, and we’ve been wanting to find a way to have access to better water, and now that’s happening,” said Principal Glenn Gray. “With everything going on with COVID we want the kids to have water that is clean and healthy for them.
“It’s been a blessing and we’re so grateful,” he continued
Gray also noted that Holualoa Elementary School is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.
“We don’t always have ability to have such amazing machines at this school, so we’re excited about this gift,” he said.
Data showed that, in 2018 alone, 215 pounds of plastic waste was generated per person, which amounts to one pound per day, in the U.S. More, less than 9% of plastics are recycled on the mainland, and on the Big Island, it’s zero, because there are no plastic recycling plants.
Ellsworth said while recycling programs exist, it’s more like “wishful recycling” than actual recycling.
“Recycling is basically a myth,” she said.
Ellsworth and Montenegro have big plans for the future, and their goal is to install refill stations at every school on the Big Island, as well as public places like airports and parks.
“Our ultimate goal is to reduce plastic, and studies show kids like using the unit,” she concluded.
To learn more about Montenegro’s project, and ways to contribute to the youth’s effort, visit the Keahole Center for Sustainability’s website at kcshi.org/sustainability-action.