Published on: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Last updated: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Greater Anglia passengers have refilled the equivalent of more than 35,000 plastic bottles by using the train operator’s water refill points.
Water fountains were installed at Chelmsford, Ipswich and Cambridge this summer, and to celebrate National Refill Day on September 27, Greater Anglia is thanking its customers who have helped to save the environment and reminding them to carry a re-usable bottle when travelling.
Refill is a national campaign committed to stopping plastic pollution at source by making it easier to find free tap water on the go rather than buying a single use plastic bottle. A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number is set to increase a further 20% by 2021.
Since the water fountains were installed, Greater Anglia customers have filled up 18,000 bottles at Cambridge, 12,600 at Ipswich and 6,700 at Chelmsford.
Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, said: “We are very pleased that the free water fountains are proving to be pouplar with our customers. We hope that by providing free water, it will help makes passengers’ journeys a little easier and help reduce the number of plastic bottles that are thrown away.
“We already recycle as much of our waste as possible. We have increased our recycling by 71% over the past five years, but we are looking to increase that figure even further.”
“We care about the environment, so we are delivering a number of projects to improve our energy-efficiency and operate in a more sustainable manner - from installing LED lighting, to recycling food, to providing free electric car charging points.”
Earlier this year, Greater Anglia became one of the first train operators in England to offer free water to passengers, investing more than £30,000 in the project.
The initiative is now nominated for Idea UK’s ‘Idea of the Year’ award and the winner will be announced in November.