26/07/2018

FMs and specifiers urged to cut single-use plastic waste with new initiative

Workplaces free of single-use plastic bottle water systems is the aim of Zip Water UK. We have launched Reuse Refill Refresh following the publication of a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, predicting there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Reuse Refill Refresh aims to educate facilities managers and specifiers about the urgent need to reduce single-use plastic bottle waste, and how to do so.

The UK government is working towards eliminating avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042 as part of its 25-year environment plan launched in January of this year, but we believe change has to start now to achieve this. Some large companies have recognised this need for change and already put such strategies in place, with the BBC committing to remove single-use plastic from its operations by 2020.

Helping businesses to reduce their single-use plastic water bottle waste has become a key objective for us and this latest campaign has been designed to ensure employees stay hydrated without any impact on the environment.

“To meet government targets and save our oceans, other businesses need to take action against plastic waste today,” comments marketing director Russell Owens. “It’s easy - all FMs and specifiers have to do is take our RRR pledge to ban plastic bottled water in the workplace. And there’s an additional bonus, businesses taking the pledge will also be entered into a prize draw to win a chilled-only HydroTap worth £2,300.”

Through the campaign, we want to highlight to those specifying and maintaining drinking water systems that a large contributor to the plastic scourge is the unnecessary single-use plastic bottle; 38.5m are used every day in the UK alone and little more than half of these are recycled.¹ Those remaining are burned, sent to landfill, or leak into the environment and oceans where they choke marine life and contaminate the food and water we eat and drink.²

As many offices stock meeting rooms with large supplies of plastic bottled water and hydrate employees with water coolers, they are a big part of the problem – and therefore can be part of the solution.

“Never has there been more publicity around the damaging effect plastic bottle waste has on the environment”, says Russell. “Thanks to programmes such as Blue Planet, it’s fair to say we’ve all had our eyes opened to the sheer volume of plastic waste that is piling up at a concerning rate.”

As experts in sustainable commercial drinking water solutions, we advise the best way to reduce reliance on plastic bottles is to provide highly filtered water in the office. Russell continues: “With bottled water often favoured over tap for its taste, offering clean filtered water to employees is essential.

“Zip products have the benefit of being mains-fed, but without the tap-water taste. Thanks to our innovative MicroPurity filtration technology, consumers can enjoy pure-tasting water in an instant without a plastic bottle in sight. And, with the filtration removing microplastics and contaminants, users can enjoy the healthiest water possible.”

Companies can take the RRR pledge to ban plastic water bottles and be entered into the HydroTap prize draw by visiting zipcommercial.co.uk/rrr.