Within the current week between June 15 and 21, World Duty Free is supporting One Water Week by the One Foundation, which is the charitable organisation behind the ethical bottled water brand One Water. This

week gives volunteers across the UK the chance to organise local fund raising activities in support of One Water.

World Duty Free has supported this worthy cause since 2006 and its activities and the sale of 2m bottles of One Water through its UK stores have already helped fund an impressive 32 water pumps in needy communities in Africa.

Following the integration of the World Duty Free, Alpha Airport Shopping and Biza travel retail brands in February 2009 under the newly formed corporate brand, WDF, the One brand has also been rolled out across the whole estate and the company says that this process completes this week – coinciding with One Water Week.

In a statement, the company said: ‘WDF is constantly looking for new ways to support One and came up with the idea of developing a One branded re-usable jute bag for customers to buy in its stores. Surprisingly, no other airport retailer offers a re-usable bag, so this in itself is a positive step to have taken. As the bag retails at a higher price point than the water (?3.50/$5.72 for a bag and ?0.99p/$1.62 for a 75cl bottle of water), it will significantly increase the financial contribution WDF can make to the One. The jute bag is now available in all stores across the WDF estate.’

Mark Riches, CEO of WDF said that the One Water initiative is at the heart of the company's Corporate Social Responsibility strategy: ‘They are our charity of the year this year and we are 100% committed to supporting them and the vital work they do. For our employees, One is extremely involving and motivating and many of our staff have been able to travel to Africa to see the PlayPumps in action and meet some of the communities whose lives have literally been transformed as a result of the PlayPump installation.

‘For One Water Week, we invited all our staff to get involved and organise their own fundraising events and as expected, the response has been tremendous. One great example is a ?Walk Promotion? in Heathrow?s T5. Two staff members will keep walking the length of the Terminal between 5am and 10pm to cover a total distance of 1,050 miles, which is the distance from the UK to Africa! It will take them about two weeks to cover this distance and will undoubtedly raise a lot of awareness and public support for One, which is what it?s all about’.

Duncan Goose, founder and Managing Director of One added: ‘We have been overwhelmed by the incredible support WDF has shown to our organisation and really applaud their latest initiative – the re-usable One branded jute bag. Sales of these bags – as well as the water WDF already stocks – will really help raise more vital donations, all of which go straight into funding more PlayPumps’.