The UK Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The Bill presents a golden opportunity to build greener towns and cities that use less plastic and promote sustainable water consumption. While the Bill’s main aim is to speed up development through streamlined planning rules, it does include some provisions on sustainability. However, in its current form, it falls short of addressing plastic waste directly. Now’s the time to push for stronger action, putting refill and reuse at the core of future planning.
The Refill Gap
Despite growing awareness, access to water refill points across the UK remains patchy, especially outside of London. While some cities have introduced refill stations, many public areas still lack the infrastructure needed to support a reuse culture. As a result, people often resort to single-use plastic bottles, contributing to the 1.7 billion pieces of plastic waste generated by UK households every week.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s Sustainability Provisions
At BRITA, we believe in making sustainable choices simple. That’s why we’re closely following the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which seeks to modernise the planning system. Encouragingly, it includes Environmental Outcome Reports to better track the sustainability of developments and the Nature Restoration Fund to support green infrastructure - both positive moves in the right direction.
But if we want to build genuinely sustainable communities...
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill must go further and address plastic waste directly. A practical way to do this is to ensure everyone has easy access to clean, refillable drinking water in public spaces.
With plans for 1.5 million new homes and at least twelve new towns, there is a unique opportunity to embed refill infrastructure from the start.
These communities can be built with sustainability in mind, making reuse the easy, everyday choice. Changing habits starts with changing environments. By integrating refill stations into new developments, just like we now expect recycling bins or bike lanes, refill becomes second nature. Urban planning should lead the way in shaping how we live more sustainably.
Provisions like the Nature Restoration Fund and Environmental Outcome Reports.
This could be strengthened to support refill stations in new developments, reducing reliance on single-use plastics and cutting emissions at the same time. Making it easier for people to choose sustainable options can help shift long-term behaviours around waste and water consumption.
How Government Can Lead
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill sets a foundation for greener cities, but it could do more to actively reduce plastic use. Government should require refill points in all new public and private developments, and Local Authorities could encourage developers to adopt refill-friendly infrastructure. It’s a simple, effective way for both businesses and communities to drive their sustainability goals forward.
With the right planning today, we can build a cleaner, more sustainable tomorrow💙
At BRITA, we believe in a future where clean, accessible drinking water is available to everyone, without the need for wasteful plastic bottles. Our recent white paper, Boosting public water access for a plastic-free future, lays out a compelling case for boosting water refill points across the UK - while highlighting some of the great work already being done across the country and outlining suggested key initiatives and policy changes that would allow for a plastic-free future to become a reality.
Download our white paper to learn more now
