SWR helps to reduce single use plastics on the daily commute

South Western Railway has teamed-up with ape2o, an innovative water company, to help passengers using Hampton Court station slash their use of single use plastic bottles.

Every day in the UK, 7 million plastic water bottles are thrown into landfill, damaging our environment for generations to come. That is why South Western Railway has teamed-up with ape2o, an innovative water company, to help passengers using Hampton Court station slash their use of single use plastic bottles.

On Wednesday 12 December ape2o installed their first ‘Big Ape’ ultra-filtered water vending machine at Hampton Court station. The installation is part of a proof of concept trial. There are plans to then roll-out Big Apes across London as well as to other stations in the SWR network.

The Big Apes use a three-phase filtration system and ultra violet light to hygienically dispense nano-filtered water with a fresh, clean taste. Customers pay just 20 pence for each half litre of cold, filtered water at the Big Apes and fill-up using either their own water containers, reducing the use of plastic bottles, or they can buy stainless steel ape2o bottles.

Commenting on this initiative, Amelia Woodley, SWR’s Head of Sustainability said:

“Single use plastics are having a global environmental impact. At SWR we are committed to supporting the Less Plastic Pledge through reducing and recycling waste and providing solutions to our customers that help them make sustainable choices. “

ape2o founder, Anthony Newman, added:

“I believe that lots of people want to make this change – to ditch the plastic and be a force for good, but it’s hard to get good water on-the-go without using plastic. ape2o is set to change all that, bringing the same trusted benefits of bottled water such as convenience, purity and hydration, but without the plastic and at a fraction of the cost. It’s time to go ape2o”

ape2o will contribute 10% of their turnover to ocean, beach and river clean-up initiatives and to education projects.

Even at this early stage in its franchise South Western Railway has an impressive track record of delivering sustainable. This includes:

• Winning a prestigious Green Apple award for reducing its environmental impact
• Achieving its challenging zero waste to landfill 8 months early. Since July 2018, 100% of its waste has been diverted from landfill – it is either recycled or used to generate energy.
• Arranging for old staff uniforms to be reused or donated to charities – in September alone 45 bags were donated to the Salvation Army.

Download article