Bid to reduce single-use plastic at railway station

Rail passengers are being encouraged to ditch single-use plastic as they travel.

Network Rail and Bristol-based environmental charity City to Sea have installed free water refill stations and signs and digital screens encouraging rail passengers to use bottles throughout Bristol Temple Meads station.

City to Sea estimates around five million single-use plastic bottles are discarded across the county every day.

"By placing refilling at the heart of one of the UK's busiest travel hubs, we empowered hundreds of thousands of people to refill rather than reaching for a plastic bottle," said partnership manager Cyan Stuart.

"This partnership with Network Rail shows just how powerful collaboration can be in driving behaviour change," she added.

The charity also provides an app which highlights where free water refills can be obtained.

City to Sea estimates the refill station has already stopped more than 69,000 plastic bottles from being discarded.

Bristol Temple Meads' station manager at Network Rail, Gabriella Colwell, said: "We all have a part to play in tackling plastic pollution and we're proud to be working with City to Sea to make a difference at Bristol Temple Meads.

"By highlighting how simple and quick it is to fill up at the station, we're reducing the need for passengers to turn to single-use plastics."

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