Refill is a national campaign 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 refill reusable bottles on the go. Participating businesses, transport hubs and public spaces can by located via the free Refill app, or via the blue stickers in their window which show they are a Refill Station.
Essex & Suffolk Water is supporting the delivery of the Refill scheme across its supply area, working alongside local authorities, local volunteer groups and organisations. There are volunteer-led local Refill schemes in Brentwood, Chelmsford, Southend and Lowestoft, and hundreds of Refill stations across Essex and Suffolk offering free tap water top-ups.
During National Refill Day Essex & Suffolk Water will be highlighting local Refill schemes and stations, and encouraging its customers to make the switch from single-use plastic bottles to a reusable one. People can show that they′ve #GotTheBottle by sharing a picture of their reusable bottle and refilling on the go.
As well as finding Refill stations on almost every local high street, people can also get their reusable bottles topped up for free at a number of popular visitor attractions, including Essex Wildlife Trust visitor centres, Essex Country Parks at Cressing Temple Barns, Thorndon, Weald, Belhus Wood and Cudmore Grove, and the Museum of Power in Langford.
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 1,200 Refill stations across our supply areas, 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 facts and figures -
• If just 1 in 10 Brits Refilled just once a week, we′d save around 340 million plastic bottles a year!
• The average person in the UK will use 150 plastic water bottles every year - or around 3 a week
• A 1 litre single-use plastic water bottle takes around 8 litres of water to produce.
• It′s been estimated that around 15 million plastic bottles are littered, landfilled or incinerated every day in the UK
• An estimated 700,000 plastic bottles are littered every single day in the UK
• There are now over 150 plastic bottles for every mile of beach in the UK
• The UK produces 600,000 tonnes of plastic bottle waste a year.