Thirsty New Yorkers invited to refill their water bottles at cafés

New York’s water-toting crowd has a convenient new way to be sustainable while staying hydrated, as a tap water refilling service officially launches in the city. TapIt is a community program that enables people to refill their water bottles at participating cafés, completely free of charge. TapIt aims to help people stay healthy and hydrated without relying on single-use plastic bottles. Any restaurant or café with a soda dispenser or tap that gives clean drinking water can sign up as a partner. Thirsty consumers can find taps online or via TapIt’s iPhone app, and are provided with information on the type of water that’s available, telling discerning customers whether the water’s filtered or non-filtered, room temperature or chilled. TapIt is better for the environment, better for people’s wallets, and helps businesses connect with new customers at almost zero cost. The initiative is currently only up and running in New York, where it now has over 100 locations after a year of soft-launching. But it intends to extend its bottle-less initiative further afield. In the meantime, there’s no reason why councils or community organisations can’t get inspired and help TapIt launch in their own town. Spotted by: Jonas Cords