New water refill machines installed at Oxford train station

Charlotte Coles
·2-min read
Oxford's train station <i>(Image: Ed Nix)</i>
Oxford's train station (Image: Ed Nix)

Oxford's railway station is the first station on Great Western Railway's network to launch new ultra-filtered water refill machines.

Great Western Railway (GWR) has partnered with water company ape2o to help customers reduce plastic consumption by installing high quality water refill machines at its stations.

Oxford is the first station on the network to launch ape2o’s machines, with machines planned to be installed at more stations over the next two to three years.

Ape2o has been awarded the contract to deliver this anti-plastic water solution with the long-term goal of expanding this across GWR’s network of staffed stations.

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Around seven million empty plastic water bottles hit landfill every day in the UK.

With up to 43 per cent of all plastic bottles in the UK ending up being incinerated, in landfill or our oceans, and being responsible for over quarter of a million tonnes of CO2e emissions each year, single use bottles damage the environment for generations to come.

Ape2o’s sophisticated water refill machines, known as “Big Apes”, offer chilled still or sparkling water for a fraction of the price of plastic bottled water.

Ape2o provides the customer a "pure water guarantee" by using a multi-phase advanced filtration system and ultra-violet light sanitisation that clean and sterilise the water, removing any impurities down to the molecular level and dispensing it hygienically as people can’t touch the water source.

Customers will pay 25p for each half-litre of chilled, ultra-filtered water at the machines and fill-up using either their own water bottles, or they can buy ape2o stainless steel plastic-free bottles online.

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Great Western Railway (Image: PA)

Ape2o promise to contribute 10 per cent of all sales to ocean, river and marine life conservation and clean up initiatives.

Commenting on the partnership, Dan Walker, GWR’s senior environment and decarbonisation manager, said: “At GWR we’re committed to increasing recycling, reducing waste and decreasing our environmental impact wherever possible.

"Enabling our customers to make sustainable choices by using refillable bottles cuts waste at source, contributing to these goals.

"Working alongside companies like ape2o helps us to encourage all of us to think more sustainably for the future of our planet.”

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Ape2o founder, Anthony Newman added: “We’ve already saved almost 500,000 plastic bottles from ending up in oceans and landfill.

"Our partnership with GWR will now help us to reach potentially millions more people, allowing them to ditch the plastic bottle habit and be a force for good.

"We bring convenience, purity, and taste, but without the plastic and at a fraction of the cost."

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