FREE re-useable drinking bottles will be given to children at the Bradford Family Film Festival in City Park this August in a move to help fight plastic waste.

It’s hoped the initiative, led by Festival supporters Bradford BID, will encourage people to turn their back on single use plastic bottles which are one of the biggest sources of plastic pollution globally.

The city’s Business Improvement District is urging local businesses to back the campaign by signing up to City to Sea’s Refill scheme which enables people to fill re-usable bottles for free.

Around 30 local businesses are already signed up to the scheme where organisations display a blue sticker in their windows so that people can come in and re-fill a bottle with tap water free of charge. People can find out which businesses offer the service by tapping into the Refill App on their mobile phones.

Bradford BID chairman Ian Ward said: “We were delighted to be approached to work with Bradford Family Film Festival on this project. One of the BID’s key tasks is to improve the look of the city centre and encouraging people to use less plastic will lead to less waste across the area and a more attractive environment for everyone.”

BID manager Jonny Noble said: “With the Festival just one week away we’re asking Bradford businesses across the city centre to support this initiative. We’re giving away the bottles but we also need businesses to back us by agreeing to become a refill station. It’s a great way to attract potential new customers and it helps everyone in the city do their bit for the environment.”

Bradford UNESCO City of Film’s director David Wilson said: “It is fantastic to be working with Bradford BID and we think the initiative will go down well with our festival-goers. The drinking bottles are really useful and a handy size for children so they can be used again and again beyond the Festival.”

A limited number of purple bottles, which will come with all the details about the Refill App, will be given out before the Big Screen films which run every Wednesday in August as part of the Festival in City Park.

The Festival is extra special this year as it is part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of Bradford UNESCO City of Film. The organisation has worked with partners to ensure as many events as possible are free or subsidised.

This year’s City Park Film Supporters are Bradford BID and also Living Well, a new initiative led by Bradford Council and Bradford NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups. They will be leading a street dance routine every week before the screenings.

The Light Cinema, Picturehouse Bradford at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford Markets – who’re hosting a new pop up cinema – Bradford Classic car show, Cartwright Hall and community cinemas across the district are also partnering in the Festival.

On the big screen in City Park there will be family favourites including Incredibles 2 and Lego Movie 2. A free screening of the Japanese animation Spirited Away has been moved to the Cubby Broccoli Cinema, at Picturehouse Bradford, on Wednesday, August 14, to make way for an additional film in City Park called A Cat in Paris. There’ll also be free family film-themed workshops every Wednesday before the main feature film in nearby City Library.

The Festival finale will be at Picturehouse Bradford at the National Science and Media Museum with a weekend of half-price special feature films including the Avengers:Endgame and Free Solo, in their IMAX cinema, from August 30 to Sept 1. For full details of the Bradford Family Film Festival 2019 see www.bradford.film

For more information on how to sign up for the app, or if you are a business and want to be a refill station, visit refill.org.uk or e-mail charlotte@refill.org.uk.