Instant service office and office space provider Desk has found that banning plastic drinking bottles from all workplaces across the UK will save 3.9 billion bottles from being manufactured by 2020.

The move would take the total saving to 156,000t of plastic each year.

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On the basis of the new findings, Desk is currently leading a campaign to have all single-use plastic bottles to be outlawed by 2020.

“There is a huge push by office providers up and down the country to reduce both waste and energy consumption, and we need help.”

Desk spokesman Jonathan Ratcliffe said: “You have people sitting at work drinking from single use plastic bottles, when a walk to the kitchen to refill a glass would help cut over 156,000t of plastic from being produced in the first place.”

It has been found that 44% of plastic bottles do not get recycled by households.

Ratcliffe added: “Recycling plastic is well and good, but if we didn’t make the things in the first place it just wouldn’t be an issue.

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“There is a huge push by office providers up and down the country to reduce both waste and energy consumption, and we need help. We need the government to step in.”

In a bid to discourage the use of plastic drinking bottles, London mayor Sadiq Khan has also announced a plan to install a network of water fountains across the city.

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