BlueW is refilling water bottles in Sandy Hill

Eric Schiller

Single-use plastics are a major environmental hazard. One way to tackle this is to address the use of water sold in plastic bottles. The City of Ottawa recently pledged to eliminate all single-use plastics in municipal buildings.

Now the Ottawa Water Study/Action Group (OWSAG) is supporting a new project – the BlueW campaign. This encourages the use of reusable containers for municipal tap water. The BlueW campaign is asking local store owners to promote the use of municipal tap water by posting a BlueW decal which says, “Free water bottle refills/ Remplissage de bouteilles d’eau gratuit”. All stores posting this decal offer free refills with municipal tap water.

The Working Title Café at the allsaints Event Space, Laurier at Chapel, has always promoted the drinking of municipal tap water. They were one of the first of several stores in Sandy Hill to post the BlueW decal.

Municipal councillor Mathieu Fleury was one of the many who supported and passed the City Council resolution to eliminate single-use plastics in all municipal buildings. All these efforts are part of a growing movement to create a more liveable environment for us all.