New water refill point to be installed at Point Quay

The Parish Council are pleased to be working with South West Water on the installation of a water refill point at Point Quay which will be installed in due course. South West Water have issued the below press release today in relation to National Refill Day tomorrow.

As part of the award-winning ReFill campaign, South West Water is taking further steps to make tap water more freely available, helping to reduce litter from single-use plastic bottles and keep people healthy and hydrated when out and about.

To mark the launch of National ReFill Day tomorrow (Wednesday 19 June), South West Water and Recycle Devon will be at Princesshay Square in Exeter from 10am to 6pm to offer free tap water refills from a South West Water ’hydration station’.

As well as offering the chance to learn more about the campaign, South West Water will be giving away some stainless steel refillable bottles to a few lucky refill users throughout the day.

BBC’s ‘Blue Planet’ and the current ‘War on Plastic’ TV programme have significantly raised public awareness about plastic pollution. In response to community demand South West Water has helped to install several new water connection points in public places, including Polzeath beach and Bude in Cornwall.

Working with Keep Britain Tidy, the company has also distributed 3,000 stainless steel refillable bottles to community groups in the South West. In addition, South West Water is currently supporting plans by Feock Parish Council for a new public hydration station at Point Quay, Devoran near Truro and progressing plans with Plymouth City Council for three new water points in Plymouth.

With more than 20,000 ReFill stations now registered in locations like cafes, hotels, restaurants and shops (1,200 in Devon and Cornwall) it is estimated that the ReFill campaign will have stopped over 100 million single-use bottles from becoming waste by the end of 2019.

The sites are part of a growing network of participating premises and businesses across the UK, co-ordinated by trade body Water UK, which aims to offer ReFill in every major town and city in the UK by 2021.

People can use an app on their phone to find out where the nearest ReFill point is, look out for special signs in shop windows or visit www.recycledevon.org/RefillDevon.

Alan Hyde, Head of Community Relations for South West Water, said: “As pioneers of ReFill we’re delighted that the campaign is taking off across the UK. By helping to combat plastic pollution and provide easy access to great quality tap water when on the move, it’s a win-win for people and planet.”

Councillor Andrea Davis, Chairman of the Devon Authorities Strategic Waste Committee, said:

“This is a fantastic initiative. It could make a real difference and Recycle Devon is happy to support it. “An estimated 700,000 plastic bottles end up littering our streets, beaches and countryside every day so it’s far better to carry a reusable bottle and refill it.

“The average person in the UK will use 150 plastic water bottles every year, that’s around three a week. If just one in 10 refilled just once a week, we’d save around 340 million plastic bottles a year.”