Published on: Tuesday, 4 February 2020
Last updated: Tuesday, 4 February 2020
Customers using Greater Anglia’s water fountains have saved more than a quarter of a million single-use plastic bottles from entering landfills and oceans in just over a year.
A total of 274,698 bottles have been refilled using the 12 fountains across the rail network.
Water fountains have been installed across Greater Anglia stations since 2018, encouraging passengers to refill their water bottles for free rather than buying a single use plastic bottle.
The fountains have been installed at Ipswich, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Norwich, Colchester, Witham, Shenfield, Billericay, Wickford, Tottenham Hale, Bishops Stortford and Ely, making Greater Anglia one of the first train operators in England to offer free water.
Matt Wakefield, Greater Anglia’s Head of Safety, Security and Sustainability, said: “I am so pleased to see that so many of our customers are using the free water fountains around the stations to fill up their water bottles, saving thousands of plastic water bottles from going into landfill and our oceans.
“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 providing free electric car charging points.
"We are in the process of replacing our entire fleet of trains with brand new ones. Our new bi-mode trains can run on diesel or electric and are better for the environment than our old trains.
“We have seen how popular the water fountains are among our customers and we are thrilled to know that they are making a positive impact on our environment.”
Network Rail has also installed two water fountains at London Liverpool Street.