A COFFEE shop and a hotel restaurant in Petersfield are among those leading the way with an innovative giveaway aimed at drastically reducing plastic waste.

Costa Coffee in Rams Walk and The Great Oak restaurant in Winchester Road are owned by Whitbread, and the company is the first to sign a pledge that will see it give away millions of litres of water across the UK.

Both Petersfield outlets already will fill up personal water bottles for free as members of the Refill initiative, which runs in only 13 towns and cities in England.

Refill is aimed at reducing the number of plastic water bottles being thrown away.

But now they are joining a national campaign promoted by Water UK to be launched in March in a bid to really push the water scheme.

A Whitbread spokeswoman said a free water bottle refill service was already offered at the Petersfield outlets, but it hadn’t really been promoted or advertised.

She added: “From March the free refill service will be advertised and marketed so that more people know about it, and will, hopefully, take advantage of it.

“In the meantime, I would invite Petersfield residents to refill their water plastic bottles at our refill stations.

“They don’t have to worry if they aren’t buying anything at either outlet.

“The service is free, with no conditions, so feel free to visit either outlet and refill your personal water bottles.”

From March, refill stations and public fountains will be able to be found via a mobile phone app, or window signs pointing people in the direction of the nearest one.

The scheme is aimed at cutting the number of plastic water bottles currently being thrown away.

Disposing of empty plastic bottles is fast becoming a big environmental problem. A “harmful tide of plastic waste,” says Water UK chief executive Michael Roberts.

It is estimated that if every resident in a city the size of Bristol refilled a plastic bottle just once, it could save 22.3 million bottles being thrown away every year.

For more information about the scheme, visit the Water UK website at: www.water.org.uk