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Tweed Shire Council is teaming up with the national Choose Tap coalition to encourage residents, workers and visitors to ditch buying bottled water.
Mayor of Tweed Shire Chris Cherry said the Choose Tap initiative was adding to Council’s ongoing efforts to encourage the local community to do away with plastic waste.
“Earlier this year, the United Nations released a report revealing Australians are the second biggest consumers of bottled water in the world per capita,” Cr Cherry said.
“We seem to have a love affair with bottled water and Council is keen to do all we can to break that bond in the Tweed – Choose Tap will help us do that.
“Laboratory results released last month show tap water in the Tweed is just as good as bottled water. This, coupled with the environmental benefits of ditching bottled water, make choosing tap the most sustainable choice for hydration.”
Council is inviting the community to see if they can taste any difference between tap water and bottled water by holding blind taste testing events.
The first was held today from 10 am to 12 noon at Rowan Robinson Park in Kingscliff.
The second will run from 11 am to 1 pm on Sunday 16 July at Knox Park, Murwillumbah as part of the Word Environment Day Festival. Look out for the Free Tap Water signs.
To save on waste, Council encourages the community to bring their own cup or water bottle to fill up.
Choose Tap is a national campaign adopted by councils and water authorities aiming to reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles that litter parks, pollute waterways and end up in landfill.
Reasons to refill focus on the environmental and economic benefits of choosing tap, including:
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A single plastic water bottle takes about 450 years to break down
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Bottled water costs 2,000 times as much as tap water
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About 80% of plastic bottles end up as landfill or litter.
Council recently installed the first of the Tweed’s public water refill stations, to be branded Choose Tap, along the Tweed section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail.
This is in addition to a Choose Tap-branded portable water station that Council will roll out when there is an interruption to the supply of tap water in a local area and at Council-run events.
“Each of these water stations features a compelling reason to refill,” Cr Cherry said.
“The ones along the Rail Trail are already doing a great job drawing attention to where people can refill their drink bottles and rehydrate sustainably.”
The new water stations will add to Council’s existing network of public water bubblers in parks across the Tweed.
Find out more about the Tweed's Choose Tap campaign at tweed.nsw.gov.au/choose-tap.
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