Tearfund: Bottling a better future

Tearfund
Bottling a better future
Clean Water
Posted by Tearfund - 2 minute read
22 March 2019

An eye-watering 500 billion single-use plastic water bottles are used worldwide every year. This World Water Day, Tearfund’s overseas volunteers are looking at how they can make their water consumption more sustainable.

Clouds float in the river’s reflection on a sunny afternoon near Northampton. Two girls stoop down to the murky water, fill up their water bottles and take a sip. Your typical Tearfund Go training weekend wouldn’t usually involve drinking local river water. However, Ellie and Maria aren’t using any old bottles to collect their water.

Travelling with Tearfund Go in July, they are some of the first volunteers to leave for their overseas placements kitted out with a reusable, recyclable water bottle. When used correctly, the bottle’s ingenious inbuilt filter removes bacteria from contaminated water that can lead to diseases like cholera and typhoid.

In many of the countries where Tearfund works, the threat of contaminated water can make bottled water the only viable option for our volunteers.

‘Plastic pollution is something that many of us are already concerned about, so we are really happy to have these reusable water bottles to take overseas with us on placement,’ explains Ellie, who is travelling to Tanzania in July.

‘Some of us are travelling to countries with no waste management services – not only are we reducing single-use plastic, but we are also reducing the burden on the communities we will be hosted by.’

Tearfund Go sends around 150 volunteers on placements every year, and destinations can be hot. On average, one volunteer will use over 1,000 single-use plastic water bottles on a three-month placement. By replacing this with one filter bottle, volunteers will have reliable access to safe water, while reducing their impact on local communities and respecting the planet.

‘Reducing the use of single-use plastic is something we are really passionate about,’ explains Hazel Swan, Tearfund Go Manager. ‘So we are really excited to be able to provide our volunteers with these bottles.

‘This is one of the easiest ways that our volunteers can reduce their use of plastic on placement,’ Hazel said. ‘This World Water Day we’re thinking about how, in small and simple ways, we can value God’s creation and demonstrate that we want to live in a less wasteful world.’

For more information on Tearfund's overseas placements visit www.tearfund.org/go.
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