The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) developed the Rethink Your Drink campaign to positively reward individuals using reusable water bottles and empower them to invite their family, friends, and neighbors to do the same.
MARCO has a Marine Debris Work Group that regularly monitors beaches up and down the Mid-Atlantic coast for trash and other debris. Plastic bottles and their caps are regularly some of the most common types of trash found on those beaches, so they wanted to change that. MARCO and the workgroup partnered with OpinionWorks to conduct audience research to learn what motivates people to make the switch to reusable water bottles.
The results include a website (rethinkyourdrink.org), water refill stations up and down the coast with tailored messaging on signs, and a series of events to promote the campaign throughout the five MARCO member states: Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York.
To date, 19 water refill stations have been installed across the Mid-Atlantic region, and more than 34,000 disposable plastic water bottles have been replaced with healthy refills.
