The Airport of Brussels has installed free water fountains, which allow travelers to refill their bottles and thereby reduce plastic pollution after calls from an activist group.
The step that has been taken place follows a campaign by the Facebook group “Free Tap Water In Belgium.” The group now calls on the travelers to use the facility and come with their own bottles rather than accepting free water bottles offered on specific flights or simply buying bottled water.
Moreover, the campaign organisers mentioned in the statement, “We are conditioned to accept anything offered to us ‘for free when we travel on holiday, but in 2022 we should now kindly turn down these offers and not accept the plastic bottles simply because they are handed out for free.”
The kingdom of Belgium is the fourth largest exporter of plastic waste globally, behind nations with much larger populations, Japan, the United States of America and France.
“Saying no to a water bottle may seem like a small drop in our plastic ocean, but it can inspire others to change their habits and start reducing the insane amount of plastic everywhere.”
Along with this, the airports and other travelers hubs often require water bottles to be emptied before passing through security. For this reason, people often don’t bring their own bottles and instead buy plastic ones after passing through the security.
The Free Tap Water In Belgium highlighted in a press release, “You couldn’t get through security at Brussels Airport with water, but there was nowhere to fill a bottle.”
In the Previous time, the travelers could buy a “Water With A Cause” bottle for €1, from which the proceeds went to WWF and UNESCO, which actively fight plastic pollution. Meanwhile, these bottles were made of single-use plastic, a counter-intuitive concept that clearly requires updating.
Furthermore, the organisation stressed that it is not shaming the people who buy bottled water, but free tap water should always be an option.
