Free tap water with Refill London
Have you heard of Refill London? The scheme will help you locate places to refill your bottle with free tap water.
To help reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles and make drinking water more accessible in public spaces, the Mayor has launched a scheme to help Londoners locate places to refill their bottles with free tap water.
The discussion ran from 15 March 2018 - 09 May 2018
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Log into your accountNinjaProton
Community Member 6 years agoBrilliant idea
HughPKD
Community Member 6 years agoFully support - make water available, change the culture of carrying water in plastic bottles and eliminate their use as soon as possible.
Yasmin Jensen
Community Member 6 years agoExcellent! Yes. Not yet. But this will be perfect come summertime when people are on the tube.
djneil
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea
andypendle
Community Member 6 years agoReally good to hear. Please roll this out as fast as you can
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoI'm going to disagree with a lot of commentators on here. I think it is a ridiculous gimmick. All restaurants, cafes, pubs, cinemas, you name it have been serving free water since the year dot.
I don't need an app to find a cafe - we...
Show full commentI'm going to disagree with a lot of commentators on here. I think it is a ridiculous gimmick. All restaurants, cafes, pubs, cinemas, you name it have been serving free water since the year dot.
I don't need an app to find a cafe - we're not living in the Outback, we're living in a city. See a pub? Oh yes. I can get some water there.
People feel ashamed to ask for free water. I know I do. You feel like you're using the establishment without paying for it - or, as the Americans call it, "freeloading". I know my friends won't ask for water either because they also feel guilty. Personally, I avoid asking for free water at the pub because I feel so guilty. I expect a growl, even though I never get one. Instead, I go trespass on someone else's property and fill up at a garden tap. Not a reliable source of drinking water? Let me tell you, I risk it all the time, instead of feeling the shame of freeloading free water off the nearest pub.
We need to have public water fountains. We used to have them and then they got removed, along with public toilets, rent controls and everything else we valued before Thatcher came along. A good Labour Mayor would simply install a few water fountains. But Sadiq Khan? He does what the Tories would do: passes the buck to the private sector. What's the point in voting Labour in London any more? It's just like life under the Tories.
Show less of commentRichard Morse
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea, I just hope the provision of public toilets will also improve.
Caroline Starkey
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea!
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea! Please bring to Camden borough.
Trekkertom
Community Member 6 years agogreat idea, expand across London as soon as possible
Lloyd1969
Community Member 6 years agoWonderful idea. Let’s hope it gets rolled out across the country not just London.
TerryM
Community Member 6 years agoThis is great idea and not beforetime. Due to my age I remember the drinking fountains all over the country and even in villages like the one I lived in (Harefield). Parks and children's' playgrounds also had drinking fountains. A water...
Show full commentThis is great idea and not beforetime. Due to my age I remember the drinking fountains all over the country and even in villages like the one I lived in (Harefield). Parks and children's' playgrounds also had drinking fountains. A water collector at the base allowed dogs to drink from the same fountain. We also had horse troughs where all larger animals could drink from. It has taken a long time to discover that the short sighted removal of these fountains by councils was wrong.
I look forward to the day that all shopping areas, our parks and playgrounds in London have free water facilities both for humans and domesticated animals. We, of course, did not have plastic bottles.
Malta, for instance, has a deposit scheme for bottles. Let us show the same commitment to get rid of non returnable plastics bottles.
Show less of commentcookster101
Community Member 6 years agoTerrific idea. Something London can be very proud of. I hope other cities in the UK will be following in our footsteps
Anonymous - account deleted
Community Member 6 years agoFantastic idea. When I visited Boston/Cambridge, MA, a couple of years ago they had free tap water points, especially in and around MIT and they also showed how many litres had been dispensed from that point and therefore how many plastic...
Show full commentFantastic idea. When I visited Boston/Cambridge, MA, a couple of years ago they had free tap water points, especially in and around MIT and they also showed how many litres had been dispensed from that point and therefore how many plastic bottles of water had been saved. I think it would go good to implement this sort of thing into our scheme too. Also would be great to make a good app so people can locate them easily.
Show less of commentAMWG
Community Member 6 years agoGreat idea, particularly if it is located in accessible areas. However, this may only benefit those that carry their own receptacles to be able to fill up with water. Some thought would need to be given to providing use friendly water...
Show full commentGreat idea, particularly if it is located in accessible areas. However, this may only benefit those that carry their own receptacles to be able to fill up with water. Some thought would need to be given to providing use friendly water bottles or encouraging people to carry these themselves to take advantage.
Show less of commenthampshirehog
Community Member 6 years agoBan bottled water plastic bottles and plastic cups. Introduce light alloy cups and bottles, incentivise by a no VAT option.
Killajoe
Community Member 6 years agoThis is a very good idea to help reduce the number of plastic bottles used for water. There is also the fact that tap water is rigorously tested for quality control and is probably the safest water to drink. (Telegraph, 02 Jan 2013) After...
Show full commentThis is a very good idea to help reduce the number of plastic bottles used for water. There is also the fact that tap water is rigorously tested for quality control and is probably the safest water to drink. (Telegraph, 02 Jan 2013) After that it comes down to taste and possibly snob value.
Show less of commentThe potential drawback is providing something to drink out of to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
halconrudch
Community Member 6 years agoOne of the best initiatives I have heard in a long time. We all need water to live in a city like London. On the other hand, we avoid polluting with the plastic bottles.
hazelriley
Community Member 6 years agoThis seems a good idea.
Satish Shah
Community Member 6 years agoSupport the idea. Bring it on soon, better than wasting plastic.