Published on: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Last updated: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Almost 100,000 water bottles have been refilled for free on the Greater Anglia network in the past year, helping save plastic waste from polluting landfill and oceans.
Last 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.
Water fountains were installed at Chelmsford, Ipswich and Cambridge railway to give 19 million Greater Anglia passengers access to free water, helping to keep them hydrated while travelling, and reducing the amount of single use plastic that ends up in landfill or in the ocean.
Since the fountains were installed, more than 94,000 bottles have been refilled.
And to celebrate National Refill Day, which takes place on June 19, the train operator is reminding passengers to carry a re-usable water bottle while travelling.
Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, said: “We’re very pleased to support National Refill Day, which encourages people to save the planet by refilling a reusable water bottle rather than buying single-use plastic.
“Water fountains are proving popular across our network – particularly at Cambridge station where more than 50,000 bottles have been refilled. 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 plan to install more fountains across our network and would be keen to hear from passengers about where they would like to see them.
“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.”