THE UK uses more than 35 million plastic bottles a day and recycles fewer than half.

But now more than 100 Brighton and Hove businesses have promised to allow anyone – not just customers – to refill their own water bottles in a major effort to crack down on plastic waste.

The Refill Brighton and Hove campaign has firms including Small Batch Coffee, The Marwood Cafe and The Flour Pot bakery displaying blue “free tap water” signs.

The project is part of a nationwide scheme that aims to make filling up reusable water bottles as easy and convenient as possible.

The cafés, bars, restaurants, shops, hotels and other businesses which have signed up have also added themselves to the Refill map, which can be accessed via smartphone app.

This can be downloaded from refill.org.uk.

It also shows publicly accessible mains water taps such as the ones on The Level and Hove beach huts.

Megan Stimpson, 21, manager of The Marwood coffee house in Ship Street, Brighton, said: “It’s a great idea.

“It’s definitely important to use less plastic and that’s why we’re happy to be part of it.

“If you’ve ever been in you can tell we like to recycle stuff.

“We’ve got tons of stuff up on the walls and even our bar counter was taken out of someone’s kitchen.”

Louise Tamadon-Nejad, marketing manager of the Flour Pot said: “We try our best to do our bit for the planet whenever we can.

“We believe that Refill Brighton shares our values in looking to end single-use plastic wherever possible.

“Across our five stores in Brighton and Hove, we offer you a place to refill your own water bottle without feeling awkward.

“We aim to help Refill Brighton cut down on the use of plastic water bottles drastically, reduce litter and create a healthier environment for our community.”

A city council committee is currently examining an £18,000 plan to install six drinking fountains around the city after 2,500 people signed a petition to crack down on plastic waste.

Lead petitioner Charles Ross told a council meeting last month: “For a town which prides itself on being green and progressive, the fact that so little has been done to tackle this tide of plastic is hard to understand.”

On Friday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said more should be done to tackle the use of single-use plastics and their polluting our oceans.

He said the Government was considering drinking fountains as one possible solution.