Forget single-use … go for re-use! Pollution from plastic bottles – be it water or fizzy drinks – is on the rise and it’s in our power to stop it! Refill is a simple scheme organised by City to Sea to get more people refilling on the go. Schemes are running in Cornwall, Bristol, Devon and Dorset, with new schemes popping up every month. Don’t have one in your area? Create one! Refill now has its own free rewards app which not only means you get points for refilling, but you can also add new refill points (shops, cafes, hotels etc) to the map! Download it from the Apple App store or Google Play and get refilling! Any questions on setting up a Refill scheme in your area or how to use the map to create a network where you live just email [email protected] or visit refill.org.uk.
Natalie Fee of City to Sea says, “It’s just crazy to think that every piece of plastic we’ve ever made is still in existence.” says Nat, “And that a third of the world’s plastic packaging produced each year ends up in fragile ecosystems such as our seas.“
The team at City to Sea, are doing their best to live a life with less plastic (refilling water bottles and coffee cups, buying loose products, making our own food and snacks) currently focuses on two major campaigns.
Their Refill scheme is our national tap-water campaign to promote refilling your water bottle on the move. To help people remember their bottles and use the scheme Nat’s team have developed a free rewards app which shows you where to refill and gives you points each time you top up – which can then be converted into rewards like stainless steel bottles or vouchers from ethical retailers refill.org.uk.
Be part of the solution, not the problem! Think about setting up refill stations in your area. Pro surfer Rob Machado has run a successful refill scheme for a couple of years now in California, setting up water fill stations in schools, so kids use their refillable cup to get their water from the fountain rather than vending machines and it’s gone down really well at around 40 schools. “They should be banning single use plastics like they have with plastic bags,” says Rob.
Now it’s time to start changing your habits of a lifetime, reflect, refill and reuse.
We’re donating £1 for the sale of every Good Vibes keep cup to help kick start the refill organisation in the UK. To get one of these useful cups go to the Beach Boutique.
40% of all litter is made of plastic and glass bottles and metal cans. If we add an economic value to this say 10-20p by introducing a Deposit Return System, we can eliminate this source of plastic pollution. So Surfers Against Sewage are encouraging you to write to your MP in Westminster to calling for Deposit Return Systems for the UK. Click here to find out more.
