City to Sea is celebrating a huge milestone: more than 250,000 people have downloaded its Refill app as part of the organisation’s award-winning Refill campaign.
The free, location-based app connects people to places they can refill their water bottle for free. This stops people buying single-use plastic bottles and prevents millions of plastic bottles from entering our waste stream.
The Refill app is tapping into a growing concern about single-use plastic and the impact it has on our shared environment.
App downloads have increased by 175% since the start of the year and the number of active users has increased by 422%. The app was recently trending at number two for travel apps on the Android store.
‘It’s incredible to see how much the app has grown in the last eight months. What started out as a local Bristol campaign has now grown to become an internationally used app for people looking to refill their water bottle over buying a plastic bottle.
‘We continuously look for ways to make small changes to the app to for a more seamless experience. We recently redesigned the app for a cleaner look and feel based on feedback from our users and we have big plans for development over the next couple of months.’
LANIE SIBLEY
Digital product manager at City to Sea
The Refill campaign works by connecting people who are looking for water with thousands of local business, transport hubs and public spaces where they can refill for free.
Cafés, bars, restaurants, banks, galleries, museums and other businesses simply sign up to the app and put a sticker in their window, alerting passers-by that they’re welcome to come on in and fill up their bottle.
There are now more than 23,000 Refill stations listed on app, including organisations such as Starbucks, Pret, McDonalds and Costa Coffee along with thousands of independent businesses.
City to Sea estimates Refill will have saved over 100 million single-use bottles from entering our waste stream by the end of 2019.
The Refill app was named in the 10 best sustainable apps in Vogue, as one of the six apps to help you shop, eat and drink more sustainably in the Daily Telegraph. It was also awarded GOLD at the Global Good Awards.
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