Northumbrian Water will have a team located in the heart of Newcastle city centre on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 to encourage people to ditch single-use plastics by carrying a reusable water bottle and refilling on the go.
The firm′s customer engagement vehicle, ‘Flo′, will be parked on Northumberland Street from 9.30am until 5.30pm on National Refill Day, and employees will be helping customers see how easy it is to get fresh tap water on the go.
They will be joined by the Refill Newcastle team, a group of volunteer ambassadors who are dedicated to signing up as many businesses as possible as Refill stations, and spreading the word of Refill.
Northumbrian Water is also asking its customers to show they′ve #GotTheBottle, by sharing a picture of their reusable bottle on social media, using the hashtags #GotTheBottle and #NationalRefillDay.
National Refill Day is being led by plastic pollution campaign group, City to Sea, and the UK water industry, which aims to prevent plastic pollution by making it easier to fill reusable bottles on the go.
A network of participating high street retailers, coffee shops, businesses and transport hubs can be found easily on the free Refill app, or via the blue window stickers which show they are a Refill station.
Northumbrian Water is supporting the delivery of the Refill scheme to drive down plastic waste, working alongside local authorities, local volunteer groups and organisations. Since the company helped bring the campaign to the North East in 2017, there are now more than 1,000 businesses offering a free tap water top up.
Northumbrian Water′s Chief Executive, Heidi Mottram, said: "We′re proud to be supporting National Refill Day, and we encourage everyone to download the Refill app and start topping up with our great tasting tap water. We already have over 1,000 Refill stations across our supply area, and more are being added every day.
"The new BBC series, War on Plastic, is doing a great job of highlighting the devastating impact that plastic waste has on our environment, and the appetite from the public to reduce their plastic waste has never been higher.
"Businesses have a responsibility to play a critical role in helping people to tackle this problem, reducing the use of plastics at source wherever possible. As an ethical company, Northumbrian Water is committed to leading the charge on this initiative and we're trying to make it as easy as possible for people to stay hydrated on the move, without adding to the disposable plastics problem."
Refill stations are places where people can fill up their refillable bottles with tap water, free of charge. Businesses simply need to allow people to bring in their bottles to be topped up from the tap.
Window stickers are supplied to help them promote their part in the scheme, and they can also register on the Refill app, which people use to find their nearest station.
More information is available about Refill at www.refill.org.uk.