Mayor encourages everyone to refill their water bottles to celebrate World Refill Day
15 June 2023
The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council is celebrating World Refill Day by encouraging residents and businesses across the city and district to ‘Join the Refillution’.
NI Water’s campaign, ‘Join the Refillution’ is celebrating its 4th anniversary of combatting single use plastic pollution and the impacts that different varieties of single-use plastics have on our environment and marine life.
Mayor Patricia Logue will be celebrating World Refill Day by embracing the campaign and encouraging everyone else to do so too.
“What better way to cool down in this beautiful weather than to refill your reusable water bottle and enjoy a refreshing drink for free! As a city and district, we must work towards becoming a region that says no to single-use plastic and move towards a more circular economy. I would encourage everyone to get into the simple habit of carrying a reusable water bottle and filling it up throughout the day where they can.
“I would also encourage local businesses across the North West to get involved and open their doors for people who would like to come in and re-fill their bottles with tap water. I will be celebrating World Refill Day by carrying my reusable water bottle and refilling it throughout the day.”
World Refill Day takes place this week on 16th June and is a global public awareness campaign to prevent plastic pollution and help people live with less waste. Mayor Logue went on to praise everyone across the region who already has adopted this daily habit, in particular the local schools.
“Small habits like this will only make a huge impact if we all work together. I would like to say a huge well done to everyone who already uses a reusable water bottle in their everyday life. They can be very inexpensive and save you money in the long run.
“Our local schools and colleges have been brilliant in promoting this great behaviour and encouraging students to re-use their bottles. This is fantastic as these children will then take this advice home and encourage their families to get involved too.”
To date, over 250 primary and secondary schools alongside numerous sports clubs and community groups have signed up to this initiative, promising to reduce the number of single use plastic water bottles and encouraging refilling a reusable bottle with tap water. The success of Refillution has exceeded all expectations, with NI Water having distributed over 150,000 reusable water bottles across the country to help prevent plastic pollution.
Angela Halpenny, NI Water’s Head of Environmental Regulation added: “This ‘World Refill Day’, we are encouraging everyone to join NI Water’s ‘Refillution’ campaign, to stop buying single use plastic bottles and instead refill a reusable bottle with tap water. The water industry has a strong focus on the environment and NI Water is committed to tackling the problems caused by plastic bottles which block up our drains and pollute our rivers and seas. By switching to a reusable bottle, we can really make a positive contribution together to help reduce plastic waste and protect nature.”
If your school or group would like to join the Refillution email [email protected]
If you are a business and would like to support the Refillution campaign, contact your local council to register your interest. For more information, visit Refillution | Join the Refillution - Northern Ireland Water (niwater.com)
Get involved and follow the campaign on social media @JoinRefillution @niwnews.
For more details visit www.niwater.com/refillution/