Easy Ways to Reduce Your Plastic Footprint #1: Reusable Bottles
Single-use drinks bottles are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to plastic pollution. In the UK around 38.5m single-use plastic bottles are used every day. This is a truly shocking figure and one that we’re hoping will fall in the coming years with the growing awareness of the damaging effects of plastic pollution on the ocean and the environment.
The major drinks brands of the world produce the greatest number of single-use plastic bottles and of the top six companies, only an average of 6.6% recycled PET is used in their products. Back in July 2018, Coca Cola pledged to raise the percentage of recycled materials used in its bottles to 50% due to pressure from environmentalists. However, John Sauven, head of Greenpeace UK said that the target was not ambitious enough and that other companies were already at 50% and aiming for 100% by 2020.
As consumers, there is something we can do about all this. In January, Water UK announced that it planned to provide thousands of free water stations for members of the public to top up their water bottles in every major town and city in England by 2021.
The water industry was inspired by the Refill campaign which started in Bristol in 2015 and has continued to grow in popularity ever since, with over 200 refill points now mapped across the city.
The Refill app allows users to locate their nearest free water refill station and many cafes, restaurants, banks, museums and other businesses are keen to join the scheme. The first major businesses to sign up are Premier Inn and Costa Coffee who are now offering free water refills across their 3,000 branches.
As well as being good for the environment, buying a reusable water bottle, like a Klean Kanteen, can actually save you money in the long run. A 500ml bottle of water costs an average £1 in the shops whereas filling a reusable bottle up at home costs around one twelfth of a penny! So it doesn't take long to cover the initial outlay for your reusable bottle and start saving money too.
Explore our range of reusable bottles here
Read the next of our "Easy Ways to Reduce Your Plastic Footprint" blogs here as we look at Reusable Coffee Cups.