Setting the Stage for No Waste Water

If I wrote a blog for every bottle refill station MIW Water Cooler Expert installed, I’d never be away from my keyboard, but some venues are more spectacular than others. And today, I’ve found my muse in London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Imagine the scene. A sultry summer’s evening. Thousands of post-picnicked people sitting in an expectant hush as actors take the stage beneath a canopy of trees and stars. And there’s nary a plastic bottle to be seen.

Every summer, more than 140,000 people visit the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. They come to enjoy some of the best comedy, drama and musical theatre this country has to offer. Even when the British weather isn’t all that sultry. Unfortunately, this usually results in copious amounts of plastic waste, with water bottles being the biggest littering culprit.

This year, things are set to change. Joining the growing number of other high-profile businesses in the city, and with the help of MIW, the venue has installed a sparkly new bottle refill station. Getting on board with the #OneLess campaign, which is working to free London of single-use plastic bottles, the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is inviting its audience to bring a bottle to each performance – but this year it needs to be reusable.

During the 18-week season, the organisation usually spends many, many hours and just as many pounds collecting and disposing of plastic waste. But this year, the stage is set for a very different final act: one where the litter-picking hero goes home empty handed.