When you walk past a recycling bin, glance inside it and count how many plastic bottles you see. Or count how many you pass by left on tables, discarded on the ground or otherwise thrown away. Then, just think: this is only the Binghamton University campus, so how much waste must be piling up in the cities of Binghamton and Vestal, in New York and in the country?

The answer is a lot of waste. Waste that IDEAS is aiming to put a stop to.

IDEAS, or Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions, is an on-campus environmental activism club responsible for many of the most exciting environmental campaigns at Binghamton University. They have devised “Meatless Mondays,” advocating for a day of the week in which at least one dining hall goes completely vegetarian, as well as encouraging more transparent and all-encompassing breakfasts, which have few vegetarian options. IDEAS has already made waves within the student body with their pursuit of a BU bike share program.

But now, Take Back the Tap, an initiative led by Devan Tracy, chapter president and a senior majoring in mechanical and sustainable engineering, is campaigning to encourage the use of reusable water bottles in order to curb the waste caused by sales of Dasani and other pre-bottled brands.

This Friday, IDEAS will be hosting a concert to raise awareness on this issue. “Take Back The Tap presents Take Back The Music!” will feature Psyman Spine and Sweatpants Money. It will serve as a method of mobilizing students who are passionate about making Binghamton a greener campus and gaining real recognition from the administration, pressuring it to add more water bottle filling stations, as well as the eventual goal of a total ban on selling non-reusable water bottles on campus. Mike Rulli, a freshman double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and environmental studies, is leading the concert and Take Back the Tap’s social media division.

“At the end of the fall semester, within a month we already had over 500 signatures on our petition fighting the usage of non-reusable water bottles on campus, so we knew there was student support,” Rulli said, speaking about the concert. “But we felt that we needed one big kick-off event to really mobilize and educate students.”

Along with the show, there will also be trivia, rewarding students coming in with prior knowledge and educating those who have more to learn on the subject, water pong and the pièce de resistance, piñatas made from plastic refuse, “washed, of course,” Rulli said.

Skeptics and students hoping to learn more are welcome, and for those who do not wish to relinquish their Dasani water bottles just yet, they need not fear. “We want people to know that the initiative does not aim to immediately get rid of bottled water,” Rulli said, “but we want there to be more alternatives.”

With enough support from the student body, IDEAS hopes to make Binghamton a more sustainable university. By coming to the concert at Late Nite this Friday, students can help make the goal of a greener campus a reality.