Who watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's #WarOnPlastic programme last night? What compelling viewing and well done Hugh and Anita, on revealing the facts and engaging with the big hitters in retail and industry to affect change. Earth is becoming known as 'planet plastic' says Hugh. It is more than just the pollution from physical pieces and particles of plastic that are entering our waterways, rivers, oceans and wildlife. The scenes of plastic waste being shipped to Asia for so say recycling were shocking. Most if it is just being burned and causing untold health issues in chronic air pollution.

Five hundred more times expensive

And it's official. Single-use plastic bottles of water cost the consumer 500 times more than tap water and bottled water is no more healthy for us; mineral wise. The refill revolution is here and we encourage folk to fill their own reusable bottle from plumbed in water taps, coolers and fountains. Said Hugh: “The "Blue Planet Effect" is not going back in the plastic bottle. Now people want to know what they can do to help, to make our lives better, and to make the Earth a better place to live. One thing we can all do is get a reusable water bottle, and re-use it.” We like this a lot. Our purchasing passion for plastic bottled water is out of control, growing globally by about 9% a year. But it's no better for us than UK tap water, which is safe to drink and often almost free. It is a question of convenience that makes us reach for our money and buy a bottle of water, which then ends up in landfill and in plastic waste in Asia.

Refill scheme bouyant

In a bid to help cut the purchases of bottles the Refill scheme now boasts 20,000 refill points across the UK with the aim of providing a free water refill from any business with a clean kitchen. As featured on Hugh’s programme many more petrol garage forecourts, restaurants and cafes can adopt the refill approach. But we can take that a step further because not all tap water tastes great and sometimes there is an odour. By plumbing in a cooler, fountain or drinking water tap into the mains water supply, folk can refill their reusable bottles for filtered water that tastes great from a stylish looking wall mounted fountain or high footfall dispenser. Add an undersink chiller and there is no need for ice!   water-cooler-self-fill-bottle These drinking water machines are often creatively branded giving the business an opportunity to build awareness. Many restaurants and cafes have high volume dispensers in the back of house to fill up glass decanters or flip lid bottles and serve to table without having to sell bottled water in plastic. Metal bottles, such as the desirable Chilly’s brand, keep cold drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours. Remember to carry a keep-cup with you and you will get money off frothy coffees from your favourite coffee shop to stop using take away cups.

Recycling matters

So if all our good intentions in recycling the millions of single use plastic bottles purchased daily that just end up in waste landfill that is shipped overseas – why bother? Well we can’t take a backward step in the first instance but Hugh says tune in next week for progress and solutions in this area of recycling. The #WarOnPlastic is a must-watch catch up on iplayer and we will be watching next week for sure.