Passengers at Britain’s biggest and busiest stations have helped save the equivalent of a million plastic bottles by embracing the ‘refill revolution’.
Introduced last year, Network Rail’s free drinking water fountains now saving more than 100,000 water bottles from landfill every month with the help of station users.
Stacked end to end, the bottles would stretch the distance between London and Cardiff (235km) or fill a total of 833 rubbish trucks.
We have set a target of saving two million water bottles by the end of the year and we’re encouraging passengers to make the switch to reusable bottles to help reach this milestone.
The announcement coincides with National Refill Day – an initiative led by charity City to Sea that aims to reduce plastic pollution. Activity will be underway at London Charing Cross, London Paddington, London Bridge and Birmingham New Street stations on Wednesday 19 June to mark the day and raise the profile of station water fountains.
We encourage passengers to download City to Sea’s Refill App, which connects people to over 21,000 Refill Stations around the UK, including Network Rail’s water fountains.
Since launching the water fountain initiative at London Charing Cross in February 2018, Network Rail has expanded it to 19 of Britain’s largest railway stations, including Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly and London King’s Cross. The final station, Leeds, is on track to install a fountain as part of wider refurbishment works later this year.
Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “This is a great start and shows that passengers share our passion to reduce single use plastic. I regularly use the water fountains when I’m on the go and I’m pleased to say we’re making it even easier for people using our stations to refill their bottles too.”
Natalie Fee, founder of City to Sea, said: “[Network Rail’s] support makes it even easier for everyone to find free drinking water when travelling – meaning we can all save money and save the planet from plastic pollution in one go! People from all walks of life are carrying a reusable bottle now and with Network Rail installing water fountains, we’re rapidly doing away with the need to buy planet-polluting plastic bottled water.”
