Woman refilling BRITA bottle

Easy ways to reach for the reusable

Ahead of World Refill Day, BRITA has some easy top tips to make it easier to reach for the reusable.

We have a big single-use plastic problem in the UK, from excessive packaging in supermarkets to grabbing a plastic bottle of water on the go, British households now throw away a staggering 1.7bn pieces of plastic every single week. Whilst we’re encouraged to recycle our single-use items, research suggests it’s not the best solution, with well over half of the plastic waste incinerated, lots ending up in landfill and just 15% being recycled.

The good news is we already have a solution that is both proven and much easier to adopt than many people realise; reuse. By encouraging a shift towards reuse, we can dramatically cut down the amount of avoidable plastic waste produced every year, with benefits for the environment and your pocket.

Ahead of World Refill Day on the 16th June, BRITA has some top tips for incorporating easy refill habits into your day to day routine:

BRIT Active Water Filter Bottle laid on the ground with tennis balls

Ditch the plastic water bottle, and find thousands of refill spots

Every year Brits use over 3.5 billion single use plastic water bottles, many of which end up in landfill, incinerators or even the natural environment. Through powerful marketing, big water companies have managed to convince us that we need plastic bottled water, despite it being a major culprit of plastic pollution. Switching to a reusable water bottle has never been easier, thanks to apps such as Refill, which point you in the direction of more than 330,000 stations to refill your bottle.

BRITA wants to see refillable water bottles become the norm, everywhere. We recently joined forces with the LTA, in a first of its kind partnership to replace the usual single-use plastic water bottle sponsors with refillable water bottles. This partnership will save over 100,000 single-use water bottles this summer!

Person using reusable food containers

Find places to shop sustainably

The growing popularity of cutting down on waste means more and more shops are now offering refills, from weekly food shop essentials like pasta to cleaning products and toiletries. Whilst mainly championed by independent shops, major supermarkets such as Waitrose and ASDA are now rolling out refill trials across the country.

Reusable coffee cup

Let the reusable coffee cup pay for itself

A morning stop at a coffee shop is part of many people’s routine, but the daily disposable coffee cups can quickly add up and contribute to pollution. A simple switch to a reusable cup can help not only slash your impact, but it can also do your bank account a favour, with a range of coffee shops offering refill discounts. Some of the nation's favourite coffee shops also offer great-tasting BRITA filtered water in every cup, from GAIL's to Costa to Café Nero. To track down those all-important discounts and make your reusable cup pay for itself, try out the Refill App.

Woman drinking water from new BRITA Vutal water filter bottle

Give containers another life

Another clever way to cut down waste is to hold onto your containers before resigning them to the recycling bin. Whether its jam jars or glass bottles, many of our most used packaging is perfectly equipped for reuse.

Small adjustments can have big impacts, but we know that it takes a cultural shift to make refill mainstream. That’s why we’re calling on the government to start implementing solutions to make it easier for all of us to reach for the reusable, from more water fountains, to reuse incentives.

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