Cambridge residents have #GotTheBottle on Refill Day
Posted: 20 June 2019
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 like Greggs, Starbucks, Costa and Wetherspoons.
To celebrate National Refill Day, we joined forces with Refill Cambridge, by setting up a pop-up stand in Parker's Piece and asking residents of Cambridge to join in by switching from a single-use plastic bottle to a reusable bottle and download the free Refill app.
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.”
Oscar Gillespie, Cambridge Refill volunteer co-ordinator, said:
"More and more people are telling us that they’ve seen something on TV that has made them think twice about plastic, or they’ve long been conscientious about waste and are happy to see a wider change in thinking.
The exciting thing is to see where this awareness can lead, with people making further changes to their planning and shopping habits, beyond water bottles.”
Dan Clark, Water Resources and Environment Manager at Cambridge 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!
Refill
Find water on the go - find out more about Refill
Posted: Thursday 20 June 2019