In support of a national scheme by the water industry to drastically reduce the number of plastic bottles used each year, all 24 restaurants and cafés at The Glades Shopping Centre have pledged their support by offering free water refills to visitors.
Launching in time for World Water Day on Thursday, March 22, any visitor to The Glades wishing to top up their bottle – whether they are making a purchase or not – can do so at any of the centre’s eateries, including Debenhams Café, M&S Café, Ed’s Easy Diner, Lola’s Cupcakes, Wagamama, Subway, Patisserie Valerie, Belgo, Giraffe and Joe’s Kitchen, to name a few.
From next month, the centre will also be giving away hundreds of reusable branded aluminium bottles to its shoppers.
Kate Miller, general manager of The Glades, said: “The conversation surrounding the significant waste problem and extensive environmental impact caused by single-use plastic has been snowballing over recent months. We are passionate about being part of the change and one of the first steps we’re taking is to check that tap water in our toilet facilities is drinkable.
“By providing visitors with access to free, high quality drinking water and environmentally-friendly bottles to drink from, this will further encourage us all to rethink our plastic bottle consumption. We’re ecstatic that every single one of our restaurants and cafés is behind us 100 per cent.
“We’d like to thank them all for helping us make this possible. This is the beginning of something wonderful for the community, London and ultimately, the planet.”
The announcement comes just days after the Bromley Green Party launched their Plastics Petition, calling on the council to install reverse vending machines on the borough’s High Streets.