Water they doing to help?
More than 60 premises on Leeside have tapped into a water scheme which is aiming to help the environment. Furthermore, plans to go plastic free for the Cork City Marathon have also emerged.
Businesses have signed up to Refill.ie which means that they provide tap water refills to the general public for free in a bid to protect the environment from plastic bottle waste.
The aim of it is to substantially reduce the amount of and dependence on consuming drinking water in single use plastic bottles. City Hall visited 50 premises to see if they would be involved in the initiative with 28 premises signing up in 2018. More than 60 are now signed up for the initiative in the city, all of which can be found on the online ‘tap map’.
This came to light during a Cork City Council meeting this week after Fine Gael Cllr Des Cahill asked about the installation of water refill stations in the city centre. He also asked that City Hall officials and elected members agree that no plastic bottles be provided during the 2020 Cork City Marathon to emphasise the council’s commitment to the single use plastic bottle reduction and ultimately exclusion.
Valerie O’Sullivan, Director of Operations Roads and Environment, responded saying that Irish Water is in the process of developing a policy in relation to drinking water points in public areas. The installation in public areas is being investigated under a current Cork City Council infrastructure project.
She added: “Confirmation of a successful application to the Healthy Ireland fund for 50 per cent grant funding, that would allow installation of five drinking water fountains in our parks, has just been received and this will be progressed in the coming months.”
As for the Cork City Marathon, she said that organisers have been working with the council’s environment office for the past few years to gradually eliminate single use plastic and waste from the event.
“We compost all organic waste at the finish line, provide reusable goody bags, have removed all plastic wrapping from medals and shirts, and engage Refill Ireland to provide filtered water in reusable tumblers at the finish line.
“Given the critical role of hydration, particularly in a summer race, we still provide plastic bottled water on the course, but aspire to eliminate all bottles from the race by 2021. Other event organisers will also be encouraged to follow similar practices. In addition, one of the main water stations on the course in 2020 will be stocked with waterfilled Oohos, which are seaweed-based compostable pouches that can be eaten or discarded to biodegrade,” she concluded.