Published on: Thursday, 26 September 2019
Last updated: Monday, 30 November 2020
Passengers using Norwich rail station are now able to refill their water bottles for free after Greater Anglia opened a new water fountain.
The fountain, which is sponsored by Aviva, is the eleventh on the Greater Anglia network and can be found at the information office on the main concourse at Norwich railway station.
Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s Asset Management Director, said: “We are very grateful to Aviva for sponsoring the new water fountain at Norwich station. More than 4.5 million people use Norwich railway station every year and we hope that by providing free water, it will help makes passengers’ journeys a little easier.
“The 10 fountains on our network have already proven very popular with customers, and we hope people in Norwich enjoy their free drinking water, too.
“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 waste, to providing free electric car charging points.”
Stuart Wright Aviva’s property and facilities director said: “This is a fantastic initiative by Greater Anglia which is a perfect fit for Aviva to sponsor given our history in the city and our commitment to reducing the use of plastic.
“Plastic is a problem that won’t just go away. As a major company we have a responsibility to do more in the fight against plastic use which is why we have removed all disposable cups from our vending machines, water coolers and cafes at all our UK offices. And we have eliminated all single-use plastic in our on-site vending services, cafes and events catering.
“By sponsoring the water fountain, we can hopefully help reduce plastic waste beyond our offices.”
Last year, Greater Anglia became one of the first train operators in England to offer free water to passengers after installing water fountains at Chelmsford, Ipswich and Cambridge railway stations as part of a drive to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles.
This year, fountains were installed at Witham, Wickford, Colchester, Billericary, Shenfield, Ely and Bishop’s Stortford, and more than 100,000 bottles have been refilled, saving plastic bottles from landfill and oceans.
Read more about Aviva’s commitment to reduce the use of plastic here