Published on: Friday, 16 June 2023
Last updated: Friday, 16 June 2023
Above: A water refill point. Credit: Greater Anglia
Over 500,000 water bottles have now been refilled for free on the Greater Anglia network, helping save plastic waste from polluting landfill and oceans.
Greater Anglia has invested £65,000 in installing water refill points at 22 of its stations to give 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.
Water dispensers are installed at Billericay, Bishops Stortford, Broxbourne, Cambridge, Cambridge North, Chelmsford, Cheshunt, Colchester, Ely, Great Yarmouth, Harlow Town, Hertford East, Ipswich, Lowestoft, Marks Tey, Norwich, Wickford, Witham, Rochford, Shenfield, Tottenham Hale and Waltham Cross stations
And to celebrate National Refill Day, which takes place on June 16, 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.
“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 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.”
In 2019, Greater Anglia became one of the first train operators in England to offer free water to passengers as part of a drive to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles.