Ban the single-use bottle

27 February 2018, Sam Cleal, Digital Content Executive

Woman holding water bottle

CIEH and 15Hatfields are making a commitment to preventing plastic pollution

The average UK adult uses around 150 single-use plastic water bottles each year. That means, in total, the entire adult population of the UK ends up buying and chucking away nearly 7.7 billion water bottles annually. Shocking, isn't it? The statistics only get worse from there. Around 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean from land every year. If plastic pollution goes unchecked, by 2050, plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish.

It's time to step up. One solution? A refill culture that enables people to walk into their local cafes, shops and businesses and refill their water bottles for free! Numerous campaigns have sprung up to this effect across the capital and even the Mayor of London has proposed to spend £6m on public water fountains and a water bottle refill scheme, whilst also using the fund to improve green space & air quality in London.

15Hatfields has already publicly supported the Oneless Bottle campaign and has recently allied itself to the Refill movement, a free tap water initiative designed to reduce plastic pollution across the UK. You can now find the venue on the Refill app, where you can search for other refill stations near your location.

water fountain

"By 2050, plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish."

As Central London's most sustainable events venue, a Southbank native and the venue of CIEH, 15Hatfields is keen to document and support this initiative. Project Dirt will be hosting an action day here on 7 March 2018 for Refill London, where volunteers will canvas local Southbank businesses to sign up and become public refill stations. You can stay up-to-date with the results of the Refill London action day by following @15Hatfields on Twitter and Instagram.

CIEH welcomes our venue becoming a public access water bottle refill station as this aligns with our stance on plastics and recycling. The unsustainable and growing consumption of plastics in our society is not only an environmental crisis but also a grave threat to our health as it has now entered our food chains. The repercussions for the very food that we eat, and subsequently our health, could be serious. We will continue to lobby the Government to provide financial support for measures to reduce wider plastic consumption and promote environmental clean-up across the UK. Find out more here.

For further information on what 15Hatfields is doing to reduce plastic pollution and raise the bar in sustainable business management practice in the events industry, please see their list of sustainable credentials.

Sources: Oneless Bottle, London Assembly, Utility Week, CIEH.

 

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