New Vista High School is piloting an incentive program with a new company that's designed to get kids to avoid plastic water bottles, paper coffee cups and plastic bags.

The project, led by New Vista's Earth Task Force environmental club, also is raising money for the school.

New Vista teamed with Beeco, a company founded in 2011 and based in Monument, for the project.

"We try to make being sustainable something that's cool and easy," said Juliet Luna, a New Vista sophomore and Earth Task Force member. "This is a way for students to help the world."

Beeco provided water bottles, coffee mugs and reusable bags with New Vista logos and will donate a percentage of the sales to the school. In turn, four local businesses -- Peet's Coffee and Tea, Café Roma, Café Sole and Table Mesa Hardware -- agreed to provide a discount to students when they use the bottles, mugs and bags.

Boulder Valley has successfully used a similar incentive program called Trip Tracker to encourage kids to use alternative transportation. Students earn "dollars" based on the number of times they walk, bike, carpool or ride a bus to school. The dollars can be spent at kid-friendly businesses.

On Wednesday, Earth Task Force members handed out the bottles, mugs and bags to students who pre-ordered them, along with selling more. Mugs are $18, bottles are $20.

"I just love New Vista," said junior Sebastian Brownstein after he bought a mug. "I thought it would be cool to have one after I graduated."

Earth Task Force members also made a display of plastic bottles to educate students, noting on the display that Americans throw out 694 plastic bottles per second.

"There's a lot of waste," said Robert Harding, a New Vista junior and member of the Earth Task Force's leadership team. "If you just start with something little, like a reusable bottle, it turns into something big."

New Vista student Sebastian Brownstein, center, buys a reusable water bottle from Paige Doughty at the school s Earth Task Force fundraiser Wednesday.
New Vista student Sebastian Brownstein, center, buys a reusable water bottle from Paige Doughty at the school s Earth Task Force fundraiser Wednesday. ( CLIFF GRASSMICK )

To encourage students to bring reusable mugs, the club also plans to give out free coffee or chai one day this spring.

New Vista will keep about 40 percent of the money made on the bottles and mugs and about 20 percent of what's made on the bags. A student vote likely will decide how the money raised is used. The two most popular ideas so far have been new computers to replace old ones in classrooms and creating an outdoor space with picnic tables.

Beeco also is partnering with the city of Boulder to start an incentive program for people who shop with reusable bags and other reusable products.

A 10-cent fee on paper and plastic grocery bags goes into effect July 1 in Boulder. The fee will apply to bags at food retailers, including grocery stores, convenience stores and Target.

The "Boulder Brought It" rewards program, which kicked off last week, will allow customers to earn points for using their own reusable products. Once customers set up a free account on the Beeco website, they can check in at Beeco stations located at points of sale. The website will record points, and customers can redeem them for rewards from participating retailers.

"Saving the Earth is important, but it has to appeal to people's self-interest," said Daniel Ziskin, Beeco technology director. "Getting rewards for people using reusable stuff is a perfect way to do that."

For more information, visit