Thanks to the innovative new campaign, which coincides with the start of Plastic Free July, there will be an additional 150 places to refill water bottles along Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s seafront. This will cut the need to buy single-use plastic bottles when visiting the beach.

There will be free drinking water at 18 seafront kiosks, over 130 beachfront taps and 15 new ‘Hydration Stations’.

The launch of this campaign also saw a new artwork unveiled on 1 July on Lifeguard Corps building near Durley Chine.

Created by renowned graffiti artist, Rick Walker, the artwork includes eco messaging like ‘Join the Refill Revolution’ and features a range of ocean animals, as well as a selfie area.

Following the unveiling of ‘free water for all’, the campaign will be delivering colourful and fun artwork, performances and new signage to encourage visitors to be part of the refill revolution.

There will be one-off pop-up events, art installations and performances happening throughout Plastic Free July along the beachfront.

The launch of the new drink stations forms part of the council’s ambitious Turning the Tides campaign.

Turning the Tides will see the entire beachfront transformed with a series of bright, eye-catching signage, directing people to Hydration Stations and beach taps alongside engaging events, artworks, and installations. The total number of places to refill water bottles will be mapped on the award-winning Refill app.

Over 150 new places to refill water bottles for free will be added to the Refill app. This includes 15 Hydration Stations along the 15 miles of waterfront. All 130 beachfront taps will also be mapped meaning that all visitors will never be far away from a place to refill their water bottles for free.

Local businesses will also be joining in offering free drinking water with some big high street names on board with the Refill campaign.

Councillor Mike Greene, Sustainability and Transport portfolio holder, BCP Council said: “Since our climate and emergency declaration in 2019, leading our communities towards a cleaner, more sustainable future that preserves our outstanding environment for years to come has been a priority for us.

“Offering free water refills amongst other things in order to cut out plastic pollution this summer will help to create a step change across our seafront, and I’m keen to see everyone engaging with the refill stations as well as all the activities taking place this July to enable this to happen.”

The campaign follows research that showed residents living in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole found that more than two out three (72%) tended to buy more single-use plastic water bottles when visiting the beach.

One of the main reasons given by nearly one in three (31%) respondents was that they couldn’t find or didn’t know where the nearest tap was.

The Refill app geo-locates you and directs you to your nearest refill station where you can top up your water bottle, refill a reusable coffee cup or even where you can stock up on your basics like washing up liquid or food staples like pasta or rice.

The Refill app has already been downloaded by over 350,000 people says BCP Council. It maps hundreds of thousands of refill stations around the world, over 250 of which are in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The campaigners hope to see this doubled to over 500 by Autumn 2022.

Every Saturday throughout plastic-free July there will be performers taking to the beachfront to engage visitors with the campaign including The Refreshers, who’ll be serenading beach visitors with songs written specifically for the campaign and the Refill Superheroes who’ll be teaching people How to Become a Refill Superhero.

Jane Martin, City to Sea’s head of development, said: “Try to hand out a leaflet with information on and people will walk in an arc to avoid you. Put on an engaging piece of street theatre of live music and people will naturally flock to see what’s happening. This is the basis for our work with BCP Council. We both want to see the end to plastic pollution, and we know, through years of running effective behaviour change campaigns, that they need to be positive, fun and engaging.

“The 15 miles of waterfront are going to be completely transformed this summer with new artwork, performances and, crucially, new infrastructure. This will mean free water for all is not just easier and cheaper, but also fun and engaging. Visitors will have a better time and our beaches will be left cleaner.”

The campaign isn’t just focused on cutting out single-use plastic water bottles. The 18 BCP-owned kiosks that will be offering free tap-water will also be offering significant discounts to anyone who brings their own reusable coffee cups.

With an estimated 2.5 billion single-use coffee cups used in Britain a year and only one in 400 cups recycled, two BCP cafes are going a step further and trialling removing single-use coffee cups entirely.

The Sand Piper Café (West Beach) and the Fisherman Walk (Southbourne), will instead be offering customers hot drinks in returnable and reusable cups.

Customers will be required to pay a £1 deposit that will be refunded to them when they return the cup. Customers who bring their own reusable cup will still receive the 20% discount.

Councillor Mark Anderson, Environment and Place portfolio holder, BCP Council added: “Last year, over 2,000 tonnes of rubbish was left on our beaches to be collected by our cleaning crews who work hard every day to ensure they remain spotless. We are proud of our award-winning blue flag beaches, but not the amount of rubbish that’s left on them, which is why this project is so important.

“We need to encourage behavioural change and reducing the plastic pollution on our beaches by offering clear signage to the free tap water and refill stations will be crucial in reducing the amount of waste left on the beach at the end of the day, so I encourage everyone to embrace the ethos of this campaign and help create a cleaner seafront for all.”

There will be an additional 20 new bins specially designed for cigarette butts. Single-use plastic cigarette filters are consistently in the top five items found on UK beaches with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) finding 385 for every 100m of British beach surveyed.

The bins will look to engage passers by asking fun questions that typically split opinion such as “Gravy on chips?” with people given options to put a cigarette butt in either the yummy or yuk box.

Councillor Beverley Dunlop, Tourism, Culture and Vibrant Places portfolio holder, BCP Council said: “Tourism brings in excess of £1billion to the BCP region to our economy every year, which is why it’s so important that our beaches remain clean and welcoming, and these new hydration stations alongside the refill app providing locations to refill water bottles for free, shows that we’re an eco-conscious holiday destination.

“Working with City to Sea, we’ve got some great activities planned along our seafront to promote Plastic Free July, and I encourage everyone to come and enjoy a day at our wonderful beaches and embrace everything that is on offer.”