The organisation, which launched in 2015, said that while recent years have seen “tangible shifts” towards reuse, economic pressures and the scarcity of grant funding have left its non-profit model unsustainable.
The charity stated that “corporate partners” have also been affected by wider economic uncertainty, contributing to the decision.
Call for bolder commitments against plastic waste
As City to Sea announced the closure, it delivered a final message: “the fight to end plastic pollution is far from over”.
The message comes as international talks on a global plastics treaty broke down earlier this year, under pressure from countries and corporates with investments in plastic production.
Polling commissioned by City to Sea suggested strong public appetite for reuse, with 72% of UK consumers wanting to see more reusable, refillable and returnable options in shops, and 76% saying they would use refillable packaging for everyday goods.
However, the charity warned that voluntary business commitments had so far failed to meet this demand, and called for “bolder commitments” through investment, binding regulation and collaboration.
Jane Martin, CEO of City to Sea, said: “Despite growing public demand for reuse, the reality is that underfunding, lack of enabling regulation, and a system still optimised for single-use have made our mission as a non-profit increasingly unsustainable.
“The new reuse economy desperately needs bolder commitments from governments, brands and retailers. They need to be on the right side of history: It’s time to turn talk into action, with deeper investment, legally-binding regulation and cross-sector collaboration.”
‘Proud of what we’ve achieved’
Martin added: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past decade. When we started, refill and reuse were nowhere to be seen in strategic roadmaps and business plans.
“Since then, we’ve witnessed real shifts with city-wide reuse initiatives across the UK and upcoming EPR and DRS legislations.”
City to Sea launched its Refill app in 2016, which has since been downloaded over 750,000 times.
The app lists more than 370,000 Refill Stations globally, helping consumers access free tap water refills and other reuse points, and is estimated to have prevented around 100 million single-use plastic bottles from entering the waste stream each year.
The charity has also delivered large-scale pilots of city-wide reuse systems, achieving return rates as high as 97%.
Natalie Fée, Founder of City to Sea, commented: “When we started out back in 2015, I couldn’t have imagined the scale of the impact we’d have in the fight against single-use plastic, from our high streets to our supermarkets, from our rivers to our seas.
“And none of it would have been possible without the support of our team, our board, our donors, our partners and our communities. Thank you for supporting ten years of purposeful action and environmental impact.”
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