The Refillery is a plastic-free and zero waste store based in Edinburgh. Founder and Director Kelly Wright opened The Refillery after a 20-year career in food manufacturing, during which she became aware of the impact plastic pollution was having on the environment.
Kelly got involved in numerous packaging reducing initiatives but felt this was only scratching the surface of the problem, believing that everyone, as consumers, needed to change the way they shop and stop buying single-use items in plastic packaging. So she quit her job to launch Edinburgh’s largest plastic-free store.
The Refillery opened on 12th January 2019 and stocks over 800 product lines. Kelly used her savings to meet half of the startup costs of the business, with the remainder coming from CDFI DSL Business Finance.
Just a year after opening its doors The Refillery had beaten its sales projections, revitalised its local area, created 5 jobs and saved over 120,000 pieces of plastic packaging from being used. It has over 50 gravity-fed dispensers and numerous scoop bins of fresh food and grocery staples. More than 1,000 shoppers visit each week. They bring their own containers and weigh them before and after filling with The Refillery’s easy-to-use system which deducts the weight of their jars, bottles, bags or boxes.
Kelly Wright said: “It was a huge personal leap of faith, but it’s been a fantastic year with so much support from staff, suppliers, customers and from DSL.”
During the first Covid-19 lockdown the Refillery became a local lifeline for many in its community, and Kelly launched a click-and-collect service, and home deliveries for people isolating. Although the shop has continued to be open with well-planned social distancing and hygiene measures in place, deliveries and click and collect have proven really helpful for customers.
