About

To encourage refillable water bottle usage.

Plastic water bottles are responsible for the most common marine debris. We can help to decrease the amount in the waterways by switching to refillable water bottles.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) developed this campaign to positively reward individuals using reusable water bottles and empower them to invite their family, friends, and neighbors to do the same. MARCO has a Marine Debris Work Group that regularly monitors beaches up and down the Mid-Atlantic coast for trash and other debris. Plastic bottles and their caps are regularly some of the most common types of trash found on those beaches, so they wanted to change that. MARCO and the workgroup partnered with OpinionWorks to conduct audience research to learn what motivates people to make the switch to reusable water bottles. The result is this website, water refill stations up and down the coast with tailored messaging on signs, and a series of events to promote the campaign throughout the five MARCO member states: MD, VA, DE, NJ, and NY.

​

To celebrate the people who already use reusable water bottles, MARCO held a sticker design contest to design a sticker that not only reinforces the campaign messaging but also looks good enough to go on anyone’s bottle! With so many great entries, this culminated in two winning stickers (pictured to the left), the winner and the runner up. Stickers are available to anyone who uses, or plans to use, a reusable water bottle.

​

This website was developed to both celebrate those water drinkers already using reusable water bottles, and to provide information to help others ditch the disposable plastic water bottles and go refillable! Choosing a refillable water bottle benefits your health, your wallet, and the wellbeing of our waterways & ecosystems.

​

MARCO is a Regional Ocean Partnership between Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, voluntarily convened by governors to address cross-jurisdictional ocean matters. MARCO’s Marine Debris Work Group includes members from local, state, and federal government, in addition to non-governmental organizations.