Description
Refill is a free British app and scheme that shows on a map where to fill a water bottle for free: public fountains, cafés, shops and offices that display a Refill sticker in the window.
The environmental group City to Sea launched it in Bristol in 2016. City to Sea closed in September 2025, and in November 2025 the app, website and reusable cup programmes were bought by Ecosurety, a company that handles packaging recycling obligations for producers and is a certified B Corp. The app stays free and is now called Refill Return.
The app had been downloaded more than 750,000 times by 2025 and lists more than 30,000 public taps in the UK, plus Refill Stations worldwide. Besides water, the map shows cafés that give a discount for a reusable cup, places that fill a lunchbox, and shops that sell without packaging. Any business can join for free and put up the sticker. The Refill Return programmes also help towns, universities and venues set up deposit schemes for reusable cups.
Strengths
- Finding free drinking water on the move takes a few seconds, with taps and cafés on one map.
- Joining as a café or shop costs nothing beyond the sticker in the window.
- The map also lists discounts for reusable cups and places to buy food without packaging.
Weaknesses
- Since 2025 it belongs to a company paid by packaging producers, after the charity that built it closed.
- Listings are added by businesses and users, so a café may have stopped offering water.
- The app’s figures on users and stations come from the scheme itself and carry no year.
Who it is for
People in the UK who carry a water bottle or reusable cup and want to fill it for free in town, and cafés or shops that want to offer it.