Eardisland Community Shop installs FREE Drinking Water Refill Tap and is phasing out sale of Plastic Bottles to help fight plastic pollution
The volunteer run shop has recently installed a free drinking water tap and is phasing out the sale of plastic bottles to help fight plastic pollution.
The picturesque black and white village of Eardisland has always been a popular tourist attraction due to its period buildings and the often-photographed bridge over the river Arrow.
Sitting beside the equally scenic millstream it’s 300-year-old dovecote houses a volunteer run Community Shop and local history exhibition, with thirty volunteers signing up for hourly shifts to keep the shop open Monday to Saturday 9.00 am to 1.00pm and Sunday 9.00am to 12 noon.
The Community Shop has been working with the parish’s Environment and Sustainability group to reduce the sale of single-use plastic, much of which ends up in landfill or littering the beautiful village lanes.
After months of planning, it has just turned on its new refill tap for use by visitors, walkers, and cyclists.
The free to use tap is situated right outside the shop so is available 24 hours a day.
The shop team are also in the process of phasing out the sale of plastic bottles and will fund all future maintenance and water charges.
The tap installation has been a huge community effort with help from many of the residents and working groups involved in the planning, landscaping, purchasing, and funding of the project.
The team hope this tap will reduce the number of plastic bottles which end up being picked up by the annual community litter pick.
Ben Woodcock, Chair of the Eardisland Environment and Sustainability Group says:
‘Our parish is part of the Plastic Free Communities project which encourages local businesses and events to assess and reduce their use of single use plastic.
“There are many alternatives to single-use plastic and this great refill tap shows just one way a community can come together to make a difference.
“Plastic which ends up in the environment has a massive impact on wildlife, everyone who helps with our annual litter pick is always horrified by the amount of plastic waste in our verges and ditches.
“The government is banning the sale of some single-use plastics from October this year which we hope will also make a difference, let’s hope other villages are inspired to make changes as well.‘
