Italy: Venice asking tourists to drink from water fountains instead of single use plastic bottles

Venice: Venice has launched a campaign to encourage tourists to drink from water fountains instead of using plastic bottles.

In 2019, 5.5 million people visited the city which has a population of just 50,000. Depending on the season, tourism is responsible for up to 40 per cent of waste production the city council said.

As visitor numbers begin to recover from the pandemic, the city is looking for ways to limit the impact travellers have on the local environment.

From 2023 Venice will have a tourist tax, and now a campaign has been launched to encourage people not to buy multiple single use plastic bottles.

Water fountains are easy to find with 126 spread throughout the city. There’s one around every 100 metres, says Alberto Chinellato, an architect for the city council.

“Encouraging the use of free drinking water produces less waste (…) but also brings fewer bottles in the historic centre, which means less pollution and less transport,” he explains

Water distribution company Veritas has developed a mobile app to help tourists locate places to fill up their water bottles. It maps all of the fountains in Venice and by activating your GPS, you can find a route to the closest one.