ADD2568 Refill London: Powering the Refill & Reuse

1.1 Plastic packaging blights our streets and finds its way into oceans, harming wildlife and taking centuries to break down whilst releasing toxic chemicals. Single-use plastic bottles form the most prevalent form of plastic packaging in our oceans and accelerated action is needed to phase out non-recyclable plastic packaging.

1.2 Use of single-use packaging materials, including coffee cups and plastic bottles, is growing and putting increasing pressure on local waste management services. WRAP’s plastic market situation report 2016 estimated the UK produces around 2.2m tonnes of plastic packaging with only around half (or 900,000 tonnes) recycled. In the UK, around 825,000 tonnes of plastic bottles are produced a year. This leads to around 125,000 tonnes produced in London. Each year, Londoners buy around 1.2 billion single-use plastic bottles, and only one third of plastics is recycled in the home.

1.3 The Mayor is committed to cutting unnecessary single-use plastics in the capital and in his London Environment Strategy has set an ambition for London to be a zero-waste city. By 2026 his aim is for no biodegradable or recyclable waste to be sent to landfill, and by 2030 for 65 per cent of London’s municipal waste to be recycled.

1.4 The Mayor launched a programme of work to focus on reducing the impact of single-use plastic bottles, this included supporting City to Sea’s Refill London campaign which launched in 2018.

1.5 City to Sea is a not-for-profit organisation focussed on delivering innovative, practical projects which have a positive impact on the environment. Refill London is a consumer and corporate behaviour change campaign to help people live with less waste and litter. The Refill London campaign helps people eat, drink and shop with less plastic. Businesses signed up to the initiative include high-street chains like Pret, Costa and Starbucks, Wetherspoons and Premier Inn, alongside thousands of independent businesses like cafes and zero-waste shops. London shops and businesses signed up to the initiative are mapped on the on the free Refill App.

1.6 The Refill London campaign has been active in London since 2018, and the GLA have successfully been working with the City to Sea to support its expansion for the last few years. There are now more than 4,400 refill stations in London mapped on the Refill App, up from approximately 200 when the programme started in March 2018.

1.7 Following significant growth seen in 2018/19, progress in London was impacted during the 2020/21 lockdowns, and public attitude towards refill and reusables declined.

1.8 In 2021, 17,705 people in London used the Refill App to locate refill stations compared with 29,997 in 2020, and a 112,107 in 2019. Consumer confidence in London (and across the UK) has been impacted by the pandemic and there is a real need to build back pre-pandemic levels of refill and reuse engagement and confidence in using reusables.

1.9 This decision sets out the objectives and outcomes of the campaign and how it will drive behavioural change and restore Londoners confidence in refill and reuse, reducing single-use plastic bottle waste in London, and increase the number of people refilling and reusing, and utilising London’s free drinking fountains and refill stations.

1.10 The campaign will also support other programmes the Mayor has launched to reduce the impact of single-use plastic bottles. This includes the Mayor’s partnerships with the Zoological Society of London #OneLess campaign and Thames Water to install a network of drinking fountains across London. So far, these partnerships have installed 99 drinking fountains across the capital.

1.11 The campaign will complement and support Thames Water’s marketing campaign, which aims to boost awareness of the drinking fountain network, by directing the public to the Refill App and helping the public locate drinking fountains in London. It will also support Transport for London’s annual Summer Hydration campaign which encourages Londoners to carry reusable water bottles and stay hydrated during hot weather.

2.1. The multi-channel marketing and communications campaign aims to drive behavioural change and restore Londoners confidence in reuse and refill. The campaign will help reduce single-use plastic bottle waste in London, increasing the number of people refilling and reusing and utilising London’s drinking fountains and refill stations.

2.2. The objectives of the campaign are to:

• Understand current perceptions around reuse and refill in London and increase confidence in refill and reuse.
• Address barriers and challenges (based on insights from consumer research) to rebuild post COVID-19 behaviours and drive uptake of refill and reuse in London.
• Increase awareness of Refill London and drive behaviour change in London, highlighting locations where Londoners can eat, drink and shop with less plastic.
• Increase the number of people refilling and reusing on the go – utilising London’s drinking fountains and refill stations.
• Inspire Londoners to act by carrying reusables, downloading and using the Refill App in London.
• Increase accessibility of refill and reuse by promoting new refill stations and categories.
• Increase and measure consumer action for Refill London.

2.3. The campaign aims to reduce single-use plastic waste in London and increase the number of people refilling and reusing and utilising London’s drinking fountains and refill stations. The expected outcomes are as follows:

• Restore Londoners confidence in reusables:
  • Reach up to 5 million Londoners (2 million Londoners via social media channels and 3 million London via out of home (OOH) advertising).
  • Change consumer perceptions around refill and reuse (this will be benchmarked during the consumer research phase).
• Build back to pre-pandemic levels of usage and engagement with the Refill App:
  • Increase the number of downloads and active Refill App users in London (5,000 new app downloads and 10% increase in active users).
    

5.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, in considering whether to grant this approval “due regard” must be had to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics include age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation (and marriage or civil partnership status for the purpose of the duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination only).

5.2. This duty has been taken into account. The Mayor wishes to support the development of community food hubs in order for them to contribute to the waste and circular economy objectives of his London Environment Strategy (and London recovery missions), which has been the subject of public consultation. No other equalities issues have been identified having regard to the nature of the proposals.

Key Risks and issues

6.1. There are no potential or perceived conflicts of interest with any person involved in the drafting or clearance of this form.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

6.2. The Mayor’s London Environment Strategy (LES) sets an ambition for London to be a zero-waste city. The LES contains strategies aimed at reducing single-use plastic waste and supports campaigns and initiatives that cut the use of single-use packaging. It identifies actions the Mayor will take to reduce the amount of plastic bottles and single use cups, including behaviour change campaigns to drive a water refill culture.

6.3. The Mayor renewed his commitment to continue to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles and grow the Refill London scheme when he was re-elected in May 2021.

6.4. This campaign also supports the objectives of the Mayor’s Green New Deal, by engaging Londoners and businesses in the journey to become a zero pollution and greener city. Furthermore, supports the mission’s crosscutting principles to prioritise sustainability, improve the resilience of the city and health and wellbeing of all Londoners.

7.1. Up to £50,000 is required for a three-month long marketing and communications campaign to promote the use of London’s free drinking fountains and refill stations.

7.2. The campaign will be delivered by City to Sea, a not-for-profit organisation and as such the funds will be issued as a grant. £25,000 will be dispensed upfront to allow City to Sea to start this piece of work.

7.3. An appropriate grant agreement will be drawn up which sets out milestones as a condition for each tranche of payment. In addition to this clawback clauses will also feature in the agreement which will allow the GLA to recover funds where necessary.

7.4. A breakdown of the expenditure can be seen above in section 4.1.

7.5 This ADD is requesting £50,000 to support this project by providing grant funding to City to Sea to deliver the campaign. The grant will be awarded in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. The cost breakdown is as follows:

7.5. As this campaign supports two Environment policy areas, Tackling the Climate Emergency and Waste & Circular Economy, the project will be funded 50:50 by both policy areas. £25,000 will come from the former in 2021-22 and the latter will fund the balance in 2022-23.

8.1. As this grant concerns the award of relatively low value grant funding and does not appear to depart from the provisions of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code no need legal comments are required.