TV PRESENTER and anti-plastic campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has praised a school in Nailsworth for its work to bring a historic water fountain back into use.

Pupils at the Acorn School worked with the district council to restore the water fountain, which is is located in the centre of Nailsworth, at the major roundabout just outside Williams Food Hall.

The restoration was part of a plastic-free project which the students have been working on for seven months.

This has included hosting water taste tests and plastic-free events to make people think about whether there is truly any difference between bottled and tap water.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “We are delighted to announce that the historic Nailsworth water fountain is now operational – the water is cold and tastes wonderful”.

The school was given the opportunity to choose which style of water tap they wanted, deciding on one suitable for refilling bottles rather than a drinking fountain.

Their hope is that this will encourage locals to stop buying bottled water and use this easy, convenient and eco-friendly method of filling up their re-usable bottles with some “wonderful” water when out and about instead.

This is a step towards saving our planet.

According to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, we use and discard 13 billion plastic bottles in the UK alone every year, and 7.7 billion of these were bought for water.

They all have to go somewhere and only 50 per cent of them are recycled.

These contribute to the 12.2 million tonnes of plastic that enter and pollute marine environments every year.

However, there are people in our locality, like the students from The Acorn School, who are playing their part in saving our struggling environment from all this plastic.

TV presenter and anti-plastic campaigner Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall tweeted: “The students are doing amazing work to persuade people in Gloucestershire to reduce plastic waste. It’s just brilliant to see kids and schools getting involved!”

James Whiting, Acorn’s co-headmaster, said: “For pupils to receive such recognition from a leading environmentalist is a huge boost.

"The school is very proud of them as they really want to help make a difference.

"The students' plastic free project is perfectly aligned with the school’s ethos of developing community and social responsibility”.

At their Living Without Plastic event on June 26, Claudi Williams, a Stroud-based campaigner, said: “I would encourage other schools to follow The Acorn School’s students’ lead to run their own plastic-free projects.”

Inspired by the Acorn School’s slash of plastic use?

Visit

https://www.sas.org.uk/plastic-free-schools/

to find out more information and get involved.

You can also follow the school on social media to see what steps they are making throughout July to reduce their plastic waste.