Save millions of plastic bottles by providing free tap water at King’s coronation celebrations

The award-winning Refill campaign is encouraging event organisers to offer free tap water to millions of Brits celebrating the King’s Coronation over the coming days to reduce single-use plastic waste. As Brits take to the streets to celebrate King Charles III’s coronation, campaigners at the Charity City to Sea are encouraging event organisers to make a splash by making sure their events use as little single-use plastic as possible to pay tribute to the King’s eco-credentials.

Event organisers are encouraged to download the free Refill App that maps over 30,000 places around the UK where Brits can refill their water bottles for free and signpost the public to these locations. The app includes public water fountains but also businesses that have signed up to the campaign and are happy to offer free-drinking water including Costa Coffee, Morrisons, and all National Trust properties. Signed-up properties will have round blue stickers in the window advertising that they offer free tap water. To date, the campaign has saved over 100 million single-use plastic items.

Small changes can have a big impact. City to Sea estimates that if just one in ten Brits refilled their water bottle on the day of the King’s coronation, then we would save nearly 7 million plastic bottles. If one in ten Brits carried on refilling their bottle, just once a week, we would save over 350 million bottles in a year.  

Head of Campaigns at City to Sea, Jo Morley, commented saying:

“King Charles is famed for his love of the environment. What better way to mark his coronation than to make sure our street parties and community events are as free from single-use plastic as possible? Our Refill App is free to download and offers Brits tens of thousands of places to refill their water bottles when they are out and about. Our communities are going to come together this weekend to join in celebrations. If we all chip in and make a small difference we can have a big collective impact. If just one in ten of us refill our bottles once over the celebrations we would save nearly 7 million single-use plastic bottles.”

As well as cutting down on single-use plastic bottles City to Sea say event organisers can reduce their plastic footprint by taking steps such as using reusable cups, plates, and cutlery as part of their wider “plastic-free celebrations” guide.