An estimated 3.5 billion plastic water bottles are sold every year in the UK – equivalent to 10 million every day.
A new survey from BRITA UK shows that only 33% would keep purchasing bottled water if there was a 5p levy, suggesting that a policy could potentially radically change the UK’s drinking habits.
In 2015 the Government introduced a 5p charge on single use plastic bags, which led to a monumental 98% reduction in use.
Brits rank tap water (40%) as their preferred option over bottled water (26%), while a further 70% of respondents said that they would rather use a refillable water bottle, if it was easier to refill in public.
DEFRA stats shows that the UK’s household waste recycling rate was just 44.6%, indicating that potentially billions of plastic water bottles are ending up in landfill every year.
David Hall, managing director of BRITA UK, said: “We’ve seen how effective the 5p levy on plastic bags was in cutting down waste, so now we urgently need to consider innovative ways of cutting down pollution caused by single use plastic bottles.
“They are unnecessary and highly damaging to our environment, taking just five seconds to make, five minutes to use, and 500 years to break down in landfill.
“Our research has shown there’s huge appetite to move away from plastic bottles, and towards a refill culture, so it’s time the Government started to put the policies and infrastructure in place to make it possible.”
Sonja Eisfeld Pierantonio, Marine Pollution Coordinator at Whale and Dolphin Conservation said: “It is critical for the health of our planet and oceans to stem the tide on unnecessary plastic, and the introduction of a 5p single-use plastic bottle levy could help to drive the shift towards reusable alternatives. This will safeguard the future of critical marine ecosystems and our key allies in the fight against climate breakdown – the majestic whales and dolphins that inhabit our oceans.”
