How the University of Amsterdam Has Ordered Water Refill Taps for 7 Years Running
The University of Amsterdam has ordered water refill taps from Join the Pipe for more than a dozen separate orders since 2019, most recently 4 Indoor Bar Taps delivered to the University Library building on Nieuwe Doelenstraat in August 2025. The latest rounds of orders followed new Dutch rules on single-use plastics that took effect on 1 January 2024, which removed disposable cups and bowls from catering counters across the university's buildings.
When those single-use items disappeared from the coffee corners, the university needed something to replace the disposable cups people used for water. Join the Pipe's team serviced and updated the water refill taps already installed at several coffee corners, and the university has kept ordering more since: the Indoor Bar Tap order to the library in 2025, plus separate quotes and invoices for other UvA buildings and faculties, including the science faculty (FNWI) and the law faculty.
What the EU single-use plastics rules actually require
The Netherlands implemented the EU's Single-Use Plastics Directive (2019/904) in steps between 2021 and 2024, phasing out disposable plastic cups, plates and cutlery in catering settings. For an institution the size of a university, with dozens of coffee corners and pantries spread across multiple buildings, that rule only works in practice if there is a water bottle filling station close to where the disposable item used to be. A coffee corner without a tap just moves the problem instead of solving it.
The tap: built into the coffee corner counter
The university's orders are for the Indoor Bar Tap, a built-in model that sits flush with a counter next to coffee machines rather than standing on its own, delivered without a drip-tray stand in this case. It is made from AISI 316 stainless steel, the same water-contact-approved material (KIWA and WRAS certified) used across Join the Pipe's tap range, and carries a 3-year warranty against manufacturing defects. For a campus building, that matters more than it would for a single office: the tap sees constant daily use between lectures and needs servicing and parts that are still available years later, which is exactly what the repeat orders since 2019 show.
Why offices and institutions buy this way
A university buying department asks the same questions as any office or institution sizing up a refill station: does it fit into existing counters, does it need its own plumbing connection, and who services it after installation. Join the Pipe's taps connect to the mains with integrated drainage and can be installed in-house or together with the building's own water company, which is what let the University of Amsterdam add taps building by building over several years rather than in one single project.
A Join the Pipe bottle sold also funds one bottle donated to a school child in Africa through the Join the Pipe foundation. Looking at a water bottle filling station for an office, campus or coffee corner? See the office water tap options, the Bar Tap Built-in product page, or browse the full taps collection. Read how a hotel uses the Lobby Tap at reception, or request a quote for your own building.