Morrisons is offering free water refills at all of its petrol forecourts, as well as in store, to encourage shoppers and motorists to make the switch from single-use plastic to refillable bottles.
The retailer highlighted that over 14 billion single-use plastic bottles are used each year in the UK – equal to 39 million a day – with the majority purchased on-the-go or at work. However, new research has found that 63% of people would like to do more to reduce plastic, but claim the biggest barrier to taking action is a lack of plastic-free alternatives.
At Morrisons petrol forecourt kiosks, people will now be able to hand their reusable bottles to attendants who will fill them up for free, before sanitising them and returning them to the customer. The service will be available at all of Morrisons 338 filling stations.
The move comes after a 12-week trial in August last year where 18% fewer single-use water bottles were sold, in comparison to the same period the previous year.
Morrisons has already installed over 300 stand-alone water fountains in the food-to-go sections of its supermarket stores for customers to fill their bottles on-the-go. It was also one of the first to offer water refills in all of its cafe stores nationwide in 2018.
Natasha Cook, Sustainability Manager at Morrisons, said: “When we listen to customers, it’s clear they want us to help them reduce the amount of single-use plastic they throw away. We know that customers often pick up a bottle of water when paying for petrol, so offering free water should be an effective way of reducing these single-use plastic bottles.”
