Say goodbye to pointless packaging as award-winning campaign Refill expands

In Cardiff, the growing campaign has been led by the Water Research Institute's early-career group for the past two years.

Plastic pollution campaigning organisation, City to Sea are taking the award-winning Refill campaign to the next level. From the 1^st October, people in Cardiff will be able to use the free app to find places to refill their coffee cup, lunchbox, groceries and even cleaning products and toiletries, making it the world’s first dedicated app to helping people find where they can bring their own containers and refill – shunning single-use plastic for good. It will also highlight discounts available, rewarding consumers for reducing packaging.

In Cardiff, the Refill campaign has been led by the early-career group of the Water Research Institute for the past two years. In addition to spreading the key messages of the campaign, the group attends local public events to educate and inform individuals about the issue of plastic pollution and communicates the latest research on the topic.

The Research Institute's group 'Plastics from source to sink' brings together academics from various disciplines to research different aspects of this issue, including sustainable behaviours around plastic use, the design of environmentally-friendly plastics, and the potential impact of plastics on freshwater ecosystems.

Professor Isabelle Durance, Director of the Institute says: "Our early-career group is doing a fantastic job leading the Refill campaign in Cardiff. Plastic pollution is a critical issue at the core of many of our researchers' work and it's important to tackle it on different levels".

The Refill app already connects people with over 30,000 locations for free drinking water, including over 100 in Cardiff and now includes locations such as zero-waste shops, plastic-free retailers like local butchers and bakers and large chains such as Costa and Morrisons, which operate instore refill options. In Cardiff, you can already go to Ripple, Lush, Big Moose Coffee, KIN + ILK or Juno Lounge.

Find out more about the Refill Campaign and get in touch with the early-career group to get involved.