To help them stay hydrated on the move and make use of the growing number of water Refill stations across the county.
Essex SAR was established in 2002 to provide a pool of trained volunteers to assist the Police searching for missing people.
Volunteers can be called upon at any time of the day or night, whatever the weather, and searches can be carried out in urban areas, open spaces, fields, wooden areas and the countryside. The group also has K9, Mountain Bike and Water Units. The Essex SAR is a registered charity and is funded entirely through voluntary donations and contributions.
The donation of reusable water bottles from Essex & Suffolk Water will help Essex SAR volunteers to stay well hydrated while they are carrying out searches, which can be physically demanding, and will help the volunteers to avoid using single-use plastic bottles when they are on the move.
The volunteers will be able to top up their reusable bottles at the growing number of Refill stations across Essex. Refill is a national initiative led by plastic pollution campaign group City to Sea, which is helping to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics by providing more places where people can fill up their reusable water bottles for free. The #RefillEssex scheme is being delivered by Essex & Suffolk Water in partnership with the Essex Waste Partnership.
Michael Page, External Communications Consultant, Essex & Suffolk Water said: "We′re really pleased to be able to provide reusable water bottles to Essex SAR. The volunteers do a fantastic job in searching for missing people across the county, so we want to help them stay hydrated while they carry out this important and demanding work.
"We′re also urging local businesses to sign up for the Refill Essex scheme, so we have a network of places where people can fill up their reusable water bottles on the go, helping us all do our bit to reduce plastic pollution."
Colin Booth of Essex SAR said: "Essex SAR would like to say a big thank you to Essex and Suffolk Water for their kind donation of reusable water bottles. It is very important for our members to keep hydrated whilst searching to enable them to function to the best of their ability day and night. The donation will also reduce the amount of refuse from single use bottles that is generated by our members and that then have to be disposed following a search.
The new Refill scheme means team members don′t have to carry several bottles of water on a search, but can pop into a local member of the scheme when they have run out of water and get a refill from a tap."
Refill is part of an ambitious drive to help fight plastic waste, which is seeing water companies join forces with the Refill campaign to create a national network of high street retailers, coffee shops, businesses and local authorities offering new refill stations for the public to top-up their water bottles for free in every major city and town in England by 2021.
The water industry was inspired to create the new initiative by the successful schemes run by the Refill campaign, which now has over 1600 refill stations across the UK.
The Refill app can be downloaded on smart phones and tablets, which can be used to register a business and also to find Refill stations nearby. More information about the campaign is available at www.refill.org.uk. Businesses in Essex that would like more information about the scheme can contact refill@nwl.co.uk.