Montrose Top Up Tap makes using refillable Bottles a Walk In The Park

A Montrose community group is walking the walk and talking the talk when it comes to using refillable water bottles, helping to launch Scottish Water’s latest Top Up Tap on the town’s High Street.

Members of Montrose Community Trust’s Walk and Talk Group, which aims to reduce social isolation and help people get active and stay active through walking,  joined representatives of Scottish Water and local councillors to officially unveil the state-of-the-art refill point which will allow people to top up their water bottles with free great-tasting water.

The tap is part of Scottish Water’s Your Water, Your Life campaign which aims to encourage more people to carry a refillable bottle with them and drink tap water on the go to stay hydrated, save money and help protect the local environment by reducing the amount of waste.

The Montrose tap is the 14th to be installed across Scotland so far, with a total of 70 planned over the next 18 months.

Walk & Talk Coordinator Gemma Lownie said:

We are delighted to help Scottish Water launch the latest Top Up Tap here in Montrose – it will be a great addition to the High Street and will hopefully encourage more people to carry a reusable bottle if they know there is somewhere they can easily refill it when they are out and about in town.

As part of the Walk and Talk Group, we regularly visit some of the many beautiful spots around Montrose, including the beach and harbour, and it is a sad reality that there is very often litter lying around.

If more people start using a refillable bottle, hopefully that would see a reduction in the amount of plastic bottles we see thrown away during our walks and help protect the lovely surroundings we are lucky enough to enjoy here in the north-east.

It is also very important that we all stay hydrated when exercising and the tap will make that even easier!

Clive Duncan, of Scottish Water, said:

We’re so pleased to be able to bring one of our hi-tech Top Up Taps to Montrose, making it easier for locals and visitors to stay hydrated on the go and enjoy our great tasting water whenever they are out and about.

We’re encouraging everybody to top up from the tap as much as possible and get into the habit of carrying a refillable bottle with them when they leave the house. As well as the health benefits of drinking more water, it also saves you money and helps reduce waste.

Since the first tap was launched in Edinburgh in October 2018, Scottish Water has revealed that more than 40,000 litres of water has been drunk from its collection of Top Up Taps – the equivalent of 120,000 standard 330ml single-use plastic bottles.