Chesterfield residents urged to refill water bottles in bid to cut plastic waste

Plastic Free Chesterfield is urging people to opt for a reusable water bottle and fill up on the go, rather than buying a single-use plastic bottle.

The group has praised the work of ‘Refill’, which connects people looking for drinking water with thousands of ‘Refill Stations’ across the UK via a free location-based app.

Participating cafes, bars, restaurants, banks, galleries, museums and other businesses simply sign up to the app and put a sticker in their window – alerting passers-by that they’re welcome to come on in and fill up their bottle.

In Chesterfield, consumers can refill at more than 20 venues including Bottle and Thyme, Fred’s Haberdashery, The Cheese Factor and Urban Kitchen at Olympia House.

Greg Hewitt, community lead of Plastic Free Chesterfield, said: “As the public get back out and about enjoying their summer holidays, I hope they will choose to reuse and bring a water bottle with them.

"We have plenty of places to refill here in Chesterfield. We can all join together to make a difference and reduce single use in our community and stay hydrated.

"In the UK, we make our way through a mind-blowing 7.7 billion plastic water bottles every year and an estimated 700,000 plastic bottles are littered every single day.

"We have some of the best quality drinking water in the world – directly from our taps and scientists have said reusables are perfectly safe to use.”

Plastic Free Chesterfield is encouraging people to try and reduce the amount of plastic waste they create over the summer holidays by carrying a reusable bottle or coffee cup when out and about, downloading the free Refill app to find stations for a free water refill.

Mr Hewitt added: “If you find a business that isn’t accepting refills, tag them on social media and ask them to join the #RefillRevolution.”