World Refill Day: 81% of brits want refillable products to be top government priority for ending plastic crisis

World Refill Day: 81% of brits want refillable products to be top government priority for ending plastic crisis – new poll - City to Sea

Polling commissioned by City to Sea and Friends of the Earth for World Refill Day finds 92% concerned about plastic pollution
More than two thirds think plastic pollution is as bad, or worse than it was before the pandemic
Almost 80% are actively taking steps to reduce their use of single-use plastic but don’t feel like companies are doing enough
One in three have had a reusable container such as a coffee cup rejected in the last 12 months
World Refill Day campaign backed by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Alison Steadman and others

81% of Brits want the UK government to make refillable products easier to buy and more widely available, as a main priority for reducing plastic pollution. According to the new poll by City to Sea and by Friends of the Earth to mark World Refill Day, three out of four people (74%) would like to see more refill options, for things like dried foods, laundry detergents, and take-away coffees, available to them so they can limit the amount of single-use plastic in their lives. While over half of all people (55%) think supermarkets and big name brands are not doing enough to address plastic pollution.

World Refill Day is City to Sea’s global public awareness campaign aimed at preventing plastic pollution and helping people live with less waste. This year the organisation, along with thousands of other NGOs, sustainable businesses and individuals will be encouraging people to make small changes to their everyday shopping, reducing single-use plastic and finding out what they can refill or reuse near them.

Growing awareness about the disastrous environmental impacts of plastics has fuelled the rising popularity of reusable and refillable drinks containers, like coffee cups and water bottles, in recent years, in part thanks to City to Sea’s Refill campaign & app. But after a year of lockdowns and altered habits, progress on plastic pollution appears to have stalled – with the new polling revealing that 73% of people think it is just as bad, or worse than it was before the pandemic began. That is why City to Sea, in partnership with Friends of the Earth, is today calling on the UK government to listen to the resounding voice of the British public, by putting refill and reuse at the heart of recovery from the pandemic, as part of legally binding targets on plastic pollution.