Six new water fountains at leisure centres and libraries in Hackney
Six new water fountains have been installed at leisure centres and libraries in Hackney, as part of the Council’s commitment to an additional 26 across the borough by 2022.
The new fountains will reduce single-use plastics, encourage re-use and increase resilience to rising temperatures from man-made climate change.
Mayor Philip Glanville and Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm, Cllr Jon Burke, opened one of the new fountains at London Fields Lido this week, with new fountains now also installed at Clapton Library, Homerton Library, Shoreditch Library, Clissold Leisure Centre and Hackney Marshes Centre.
These join those installed last year at Dalston CLR James Library, Mabley Green, and Hackney Marshes Pavilion, with the equivalent of 7,500 plastic bottles saved by the fountain at Dalston CLR James Library alone since it was installed in July 2019.
New on-street fountains are also set to be installed this year, taking the total number of fountains to 38 across the borough by 2022.
A shocking 38.5 million single-use plastic bottles are consumed in the UK every day, producing vast amounts of waste and over three million kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. Having eliminated 225,000 single use plastic bottles from the Hackney Half Marathon and the first estate-based reverse vending machine in the country, Hackney Council is determined to do everything we can to help residents eliminate unnecessary plastics and reduce the amount of ‘virgin’ plastics produced in the first place.
The new fountains, which form part of our ambitious action to tackle the Climate Emergency, will help people fill up on the move and minimise the amount of plastic they use - preventing unnecessary waste from blighting the planet.
