Sutton Coldfield residents have #GotTheBottle on Refill Day
As part of the award-winning Refill campaign, the UK public were urged to take part in National Refill Day on June 19, in a bid to prevent plastic pollution caused by single-use plastic water bottles.
The goal of National Refill Day is to normalise refilling and make sure everyone, everywhere knows how easy it is to find free drinking water on the go.
In a survey commissioned by City to Sea, 85% of the public said they are worried about the impact of plastic pollution in the environment. However, despite the public wanting to take action on plastic pollution, sales of bottled water continue to grow.
The Refill campaign, which was set up by not-for-profit City to Sea, works by connecting people who are looking for water, with thousands of local business, transport hubs and public spaces where they can refill for free via a location-based app. The number of Refill points listed on the app in the UK has just passed 20,000, including train stations, airports and high street chains such as Greggs, Starbucks, Costa and Wetherspoons.
To celebrate National Refill Day, we joined forces with Refill Sutton Coldfield, by setting up a pop-up stand in the Gracechurch Shopping Centre and asking residents of Sutton Coldfield to join in by switching from a single-use plastic bottle to a reusable bottle and download the free Refill app.
Cormac Wade, the Sutton Coldfield Refill volunteer rep, with Christine Howles of South Staffs Water.
Natalie Fee, founder of City to Sea, the organisation behind the Refill campaign, said:
“It’s been incredible to watch the Refill campaign flourish over the past few years. National Refill Day is something that everyone can get on board with and has the potential to drastically reduce the amount of unnecessary single-use plastic we use when we’re out and about.
People want to help prevent plastic pollution, and Refill puts the power to do that in their hands.”
Ken McDonald, Head of Water Strategy at South Staffs Water, said:
This country enjoys some of the best drinking water in the world, and it's now even easier for people to make the pledge on National Refill Day to switch to a reusable bottle and fill up for free on the go.”
Did you know?
Of the 13 billion plastic bottles used in the UK each year – an estimated 7.7 billion, or nearly 60% are plastic water bottles.
We now make our way through an estimated 7.7 billion plastic water bottles every year!
A million plastic bottles are sold every minute around the world – a figure that’s expected to grow by 20% by 2021.
Of the 13 billion plastic bottles used in the UK each year – an estimated 7.7 billion, or nearly 60% are plastic water bottles.
We now make our way through an estimated 7.7 billion plastic water bottles every year!
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Find water on the go - find out more about Refill
Posted: Thursday 20 June 2019