POLICY

The London mayoral elections took place in May 2021, offering a vital opportunity for new commitments to be made, and action to follow, to help eliminate single-use plastic water bottles in London. #OneLess teamed up with 40 sector-leading organisations including Shaftesbury, the Tate, King’s College London and Selfridges to ask the Mayor of London to protect our streets, our river, and our ocean from unnecessary and harmful plastic pollution.

In 2018, #OneLess partnered with the Mayor’s office and MIW Water Cooler Experts to install London’s first modern day network of drinking fountains. The success of this initiative then catalysed a £5 million investment from London’s Mayor and Thames Water to install 100+ further fountains in the city.

#OneLess successfully provided evidence and recommendations to relevant enquiries launched by the Environment Audit Committee. In 2017 this resulted in the London Assembly Environment Committee releasing a report on plastic bottles and calling on the government for more action.

On World Ocean Day, #OneLess launched a new experiment to help scientists understand how plastic bottles move across the ocean’s surface. Bottles fitted with GPS trackers were released at various points along the south coast of the UK. 

#OneLess teamed up with the United Nations Environment Programme, Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Ocean Conservancy to take the #OneLess movement, and its refill culture, to the first-ever UN Ocean Conference in New York, discouraging participants from bringing single-use plastic water bottles into the venue (the UN Headquarters), and championing a refill culture.

In 2018, #OneLess teamed up with Surfers Against Sewage to urge MPs to lead by example and rid Parliament of single-use plastic. The campaign was a huge success and led to the parliamentary estate committing to the elimination of single-use plastics.