Perched on the edge of the North Sea, RSPB Bempton Cliffs is particularly conscious of issues surrounding marine plastic and is always looking for ways to reduce the material’s use on site.
Its latest move is all down to a Huddersfield schoolgirl, 10 year old Molly Cotgrave.
Molly, whose grandparents work and volunteer at the award-winning nature reserve on the Yorkshire Coast, was inspired by a feature on BBC’s Newsround shown in her school assembly.
It introduced Molly and her classmates to the growing network of Refill Stations – locations where anyone can get a free refill for their water bottle.
Molly was so inspired she decided to get local businesses to sign up to the scheme and went door-to-door in her home town to ask them. The local hairdresser was the first to come on board.
Others quickly followed convinced by what Molly calls her ‘devastating fact’:
‘I told them that 100,000 marine animals and turtles plus a million seabirds are killed by plastic annually’, she said.
Before long, everyone from the butcher to the beauty therapist had agreed to join the refill revolution with the aim of reducing the million plastic bottles that are bought across the world every minute.
And RSPB Bempton Cliffs is the latest to put their taps on the map, thanks to Molly.
Catering Manager, David Digby, said:
‘We haven’t sold drinks in plastic bottles for some time. And we already offer free water bottle refills – but being a Refill Station means that we can now share that information with many more people via the app.
We can also refill the ‘Just Water’ cartons that we sell with tap water. This is yet another step in the right direction for us and we’re grateful to Molly for bringing it to our attention. She’s doing a great job.’
Charlotte Hawkins, North East Regional Co-ordinator for Refill is equally impressed with Molly’s efforts:
‘Molly is a superstar! At 10 years old, she is one of our most active Local Champions, and we are very proud of her. It is wonderful that RSPB Bempton Cliffs has become a Refill Station, and we really hope that other RSPB nature reserves sign up soon.
Refilling your water bottle is a great way to prevent plastic pollution at source, and if just 1 in 10 Brits refill once a week, we will save 340 million plastic bottles a year.’
Molly’s immediate plan for the future is to persuade all RSPB nature reserves to become Refill Stations. Long term, she wants to be a baker.
‘I’ll ban all plastic in my shop and I’ll definitely be a Refill Station’, added Molly.
As part of their Sea to City campaign, there are currently 20,000 Refill Stations in the UK. To find the nearest wherever you are, download the free Refill app at www.refill,org.uk and email charlotte@refill.org.uk to get involved.