Global campaign day sees retailers, charities, cafes and celebrities promote opportunities to refill bottles and containers.
Yesterday’s World Refill Day (June 16) put the spotlight on reusable bottles and containers for food and household products, encouraging consumers, businesses and organisations to ditch single-use plastic.
Organised by Refill and City To Sea, World Refill Day is a global public awareness campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. The campaign encourages consumers to invest in reusables and download Refill’s free app showing locations to refill water bottles.
Social media activity was copious throughout the day, as retailers, charities, cafes and celebrities promoted opportunities to refill bottles and containers and consumers pledged to ‘say no’ to single-use.
Refill’s supporters include Chilly’s Bottles, which donates £10 from every sale of its Refill X Chilly’s bottle, coffee cup or food pot. Chilly’s says its partnership has helped Refill stop over 100 million plastic bottles from entering the waste stream.
Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall took the opportunity to highlight a missed opportunity in his tweet on World Refill Day. In reference to footballer Ronaldo’s rejection of Coca Cola in favour of water this week, Hugh tweeted: ‘Would have been even better if he’d held up his own refill bottle and said, “Aqua de torneria!”
According to a new poll commissioned by City to Sea and Friends of the Earthfor World Refill Day in the UK, 81% of consumers want the UK government to make refillable products easier to buy and more widely available. Some 74% would like to see more refill options for products such as dried foods, laundry detergents, and take-away drinks.
Top: World Refill Day was yesterday.
