Thirsty? There’s now an app for that.
Last week Victoria Prentis, Member of Parliament for North Oxfordshire, helped to launch a free water refill scheme in partnership with Banbury and Bicester based businesses. Some 20 local businesses have already signed up to the Refill Bicester & Banbury initiative, which seeks to connect people with cafes, shops, and offices willing to offer free tap water refills. Participating businesses register with the app and place a sticker in their window notifying passers-by that they are a Refill site, regardless of whether or not they are customers.
The local scheme, which is sponsored by Bicester-based business BRITA UK, aims to make staying hydrated and refilling a reusable water bottle on the go as convenient as possible. Research conducted by BRITA UK and Keep Britain Tidy earlier in 2017 revealed that 59% of us would be more likely to use a reusable water bottle if refills were more freely available in places such as shops, airports, and parks.
As well as the positive impact for users, the scheme aims to protect our environment and reduce our reliance on disposable plastic water bottles. It is estimated that Britons use 7.7.bn single-use plastic bottles every year. This results in around 800 plastic bottles a minute ending up in landfill causing long term environmental damage, particularly to marine habitats where bottles often end up.
Speaking at the launch of the scheme at FLTR Coffee café, Bicester. Victoria commented: “I am thrilled to launch the Refill scheme in Banbury and Bicester. Disposable bottles can be so damaging to the environment, but they are often hard to avoid, especially when out and about. The simplest solutions are usually the most effective; Refill enables people to do their bit while going about their everyday lives. There is definitely scope for this to be a national model. I am really looking forward to seeing how the scheme develops locally and am very grateful to Brita for their generous support."
Banbury and Bicester are the tenth and eleventh towns in England to sign up to Refill, which was first launched by anti-plastic pollution charity City to Sea in Bristol in September 2015.
To download the Refill app visit: www.refill.org.uk/get-the-refill-app/
If you’re a local business that wishes to become a Refill station, you can sign up today by contacting City to Sea via Twitter on @refillbicandban or Facebook on www.facebook.com/refillbicandban/.