Whether on lunch break or exercising on weekends, the bottle is always with her. Very rarely does she need to buy bottled water, except when the bottle runs out and she has nowhere to refill it.

“The only two places [for refilling] are in my home and office. I just have to make sure the bottle is full before I go anywhere,” said Tita, who lives in Tebet and works in marketing in Kuningan, both in South Jakarta.

Having to carry the bottle everywhere she goes does not bother her, she said, and she was not afraid of losing it.

“I have a good memory so I never lose or leave my belongings behind,” she said. “I just want to ensure I drink healthily and get fresh water every day, but if my habit turns out to be good for the environment, that’s cool.”

Jakartans are being encouraged to use own water bottles instead of buying bottled mineral water, to reduce plastic waste in the capital, home to over 10 million residents.

The city’s environment agency reveals that out of 2.5 million tons of waste produced annually in Jakarta, around 357,000 tons consist of plastic waste, including plastic bottles. Only half of this plastic can be disposed of in the landfill in Bantar Gebang, West Java, Jakarta’s only dump site, which is expected to reach full capacity in 2021.

The rest of the waste pollutes the city’s rivers and ends up becoming marine debris.

Plastic waste has created a layer of sediment 50 centimeters thick in several rivers, according to the agency, leaving many areas vulnerable to flooding during heavy rains.

While the city is preparing a gubernatorial regulation to ban single-use plastic bags, plans have yet to be made to limit the circulation of plastic bottles.

The provision of water-refilling points, for Tita, and millions of other residents willing to help conserve the environment, is therefore a necessity. Some places such as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang, Banten, provide such a service, but few other places. This has given rise to Refill My Water, a mobile phone-based application, which displays the locations of places that provide water for free or for a minimal charge.

The app, available from Play Store, was launched in November and has been downloaded over 5,000 times.

“We offer a simple alternative to buying bottled water and our goal is to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles used unnecessarily throughout the world,” the app’s description says.

For every refill, a user will earn points that can be redeemed for vouchers. The app displays the location of the station and its details, such as the type of water, refill price and opening hours.

The app, which was initially founded in Bali, encourages cafés, restaurants, museums, houses of worship and shops to join the campaign to provide water. Currently, there are at least 20 places in Jakarta that provide water refills, mostly free of charge or for a fee of Rp 2,000 (14 US cents) for every refill.

One of the providers is Barber Sibos in Tebet, which started to provide the service in February. A water dispenser is provided for anyone along with a description that reads “Please refill your bottles,” hung above it. So far only customers have taken advantage of it.

“There have not been any people other than our customers,” Aprilia Handayani, 20, a cashier at the barbershop said.

“We don’t provide bottles since we want to encourage them to bring their own.”

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