New water refill scheme aims to reduce plastic waste in town
A NEW water refill scheme hopes to cut down the number of plastic bottles thrown away in Bridgend.
Refill Bridgend encourages cafes, bars, restaurants, banks, galleries, museums and other businesses to sign up to the free app and offer passersby the chance to fill up their bottles for free.
The average adult buys more than three plastic water bottles every week – a startling 175 bottles every year per person. In total, some 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste ending up in our oceans.
City to Sea, a notfor-profit organisation headed by entrepreneur Natalie Fee, launched the award-winning Refill Scheme in 2015. Now being rolled out nationwide with full support of Welsh Government and water companies Dwr Cymru and Hafren Dyfrdwy, Refill will substantially increase the availability of highquality drinking water.
Local champion Sarah Murphy who lives near Bridgend town centre, said: “Bridgend is a vibrant, growing town with the River Ogmore running through it. We’re rightly proud of the area’s stunning natural environment with Kenfig National Nature Reserve, Merthyr Mawr sand dunes and the Wales Coast Path all on our doorstep.
“Plastics, including single-use plastic bottles, are now the most frequently found type of litter on UK beaches – including Newton beach in Porthcawl – and you don’t have to look far to find them littering our towns and green spaces too.”
Refill Bridgend builds on the success of Refill around the UK, which now boasts a network of more than 28,500 stations.
Sarah added: “Refill Bridgend gives us all the opportunity to help make this type of litter a thing of the past at the same time as saving money.
“It’s good business sense as well, as customers view businesses that provide free water refills more favourably and are more likely to return to them to make future purchases.”
Hannah Osman, Refill national coordinator, said: “We’re so excited that Bridgend is joining the Refill movement and making a real difference by reducing reliance on single-use plastics. Every time we refill a re-usable bottle, we save our own money and the planet’s resources, and all those individual refills add up to a huge impact.
“It’s great to see so many local businesses supporting Refill Bridgend by signing up to provide free refills.”
Participating businesses will display a sticker in their windows to say free water is available.
Those already signed up include Bridgend Association of Voluntary Organisations, Greggs, Beth Daniel Hair Designers, Corvo Lounge and The Station.
Find out more about Refill Bridgend and how you can take part at www.facebook.com/ RefillBridgend
Visit the Refill website at www.refill.org.uk to download the free Refill app and find out more about Refill