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Refill Birmingham will soon be on a mission to make refilling your water bottle as easy as possible in the city.

Water company Severn Trent is set to launch a Refill Scheme in Birmingham, which will allow people to fill up reusable water bottles for free.

The company has teamed up with ecobirmingham and founding organisation, City to Sea, to rollout the scheme across the city centre on Tuesday 19th March. 

The award-winning campaign which started in 2015, now has over 16,000 Refill Stations across the UK. It encourages people to fill up reusable water bottles for free at participating businesses - such as pubs, restaurants and cafés.Businesses involved simply display the Refill window sticker to let passers-by know they can fill up for free. A free app is also available to help people find their nearest Refill Station. 

Severn Trent’s, corporate responsibility lead, Jess Fidler said: “We’re in Birmingham city centre on Tuesday 19th March, with our volunteers aiming to sign up as many local businesses as possible. We want independent retailers to be part of it, and the bigger chains too. It’s a chance to promote the wonderful benefits of water.

“As well as making access to tap water easier, Refill is a brilliant way to reduce plastic pollution and cut the amount of bottles ending up in rivers, canals and landfill sites. It is estimated that the nationwide Refill Scheme will cut plastic bottle use by tens of millions each year. 

“I’d encourage as many large or small businesses as possible in Birmingham to get involved.”

Refill regional coordinator from City to Sea, James Watt, said: “It’s amazing to see Refill Birmingham launch across the city, helping people to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our waterways and oceans.

“Every time we refill a re-usable bottle we save our own money and the planet’s resources, and all those refills add up to a huge impact. We can’t wait to see Refill Birmingham’s work extend across the city as more businesses support Refill by displaying a sticker and signing up to the free app.”

Annabel Clarke from ecobirmingham, who will be supporting on the day, added: “We are really excited to be getting Refill Birmingham up and running as it supports our efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the city on the planet. 

“It strongly aligns with Birmingham City Council’s commitment to removing single-use plastics in the city. It will also help us start the long but urgent process of becoming a cleaner, greener city that welcomes people for events such as the Commonwealth Games.”

Around 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, and for a city the size of Birmingham this amounts to around 360,000 plastic water bottles a day, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste.

Visit the Refill website at www.refill.org.uk to download the free Refill app.

Anyone wanting to get in touch, find out more about Refill, or those looking to sign up or become an ambassador for their local area, can email refill@severntrent.co.uk.