The simple act of taking a reusable cup or bottle with you when out and about is an effective way to reduce litter, reduce single use cups, reduce plastic waste, reduce business costs and help our environment.
Refill is an award-winning, consumer and corporate behaviour-change campaign to help people live with less plastic. Swale’s Refill campaign is encouraging businesses to offer refills, and visitors to remember their refillable cups and containers, to support the infrastructure needed to enable people to access reuse options.
Every year around the world we create more than 300 million tonnes of plastic – with half of this being single-use. Resources (such as oil) are being extracted, processed, transported and turned into a plastic bottle or cup which many of us will use for 10-20 minutes then throw away. Not only are we creating waste, but depleting limited resources that contribute to global warming.
2,500,000,000 (2.5 billion) coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK – enough to stretch around the world roughly five and a half times. Swale has joined the Refill campaign, set up by City to Sea, to connect people to the places they can eat, drink and shop without the pointless packaging. Anyone can download the free Refill app to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. From a coffee on your commute, to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic, Refill puts the power to go packaging free at your fingertips.
With more than 30,000 Refill Stations accepting reusables globally, over 300,000 app downloads and 100 million pieces of plastic avoided to date, Refill has the power to create a wave of change and stop plastic pollution at source.
You can download the app for free and find the below businesses which are happy to take you reusable cup or bottle and provide a refill – most offer free water refills, while other offer a discount on your hot drink. Not only is this more convenient but can help save money – and the planet. Many businesses also have the Swale refill sign in their windows to indicate to passers by that they are part of the movement.
To find out how to make your business a Refill Station visit the Get Involved page. And if you do, drop us an email to let us know.
