Helen Tandy, Founding Director
We now have FOUR Refill Hubs! Four! If you’d told me back in 2018, when we started campaigning around Plastic Free Chester, that I’d be running a refill shop from my garage I wouldn’t have believed you…..
Our newest hub is a first for us: an unlocked Refill Hub, inside Cheshire Home Store in Chester Market, thanks to the brilliant Will and Connor they have created an Eco Corner. No locked cabinets, no fiddling with codes. Just order online, pop in, and show the person at the till your email confirmation. It’s practically witchcraft.
So, what else has changed?
As the project has grown, we’ve had to have a proper rethink (with tea, and quite possibly biscuits). Eco Communities will now focus on refills through the Full Circle Shop, with an extended range and a few tweaks to how things work.
Refill on site, from 5 litre containers:
- Laundry Liquid fragranced
- Fabric Conditioner fragranced
- Wash Up
- All Purpose Cleaner
- Hair Wash and Hair Conditioner
- Body Wash
- Hand Wash
The new Bottle Swap scheme
Some products are pricier or simply not ideal for refilling on site (nobody wants to be mopping up Micellar Water off a shop floor). So Micellar Water and Everything Clean are moving to a bottle swap. You’ll see one option to buy, and you just tell us whether you’re swapping a bottle or refilling your own.
Our newer products will also work on the swap system too: Toilet Cleaner, Destainer available now – Dish Wash Powder (coming soon, it’s still getting its coat on) and our Raw range: Cleaning Vinegar, Bicarb of Soda and Citric Acid. Leave your empty Fill bottle, collect a full one. Simple. The one rule is that you need one of our Fill Bottles for these. Think of it as a membership card, only more useful. Refillable….
You can order all of it on the Full Circle Shop to collect from any of our four hubs: Chester Centre (Cheshire Home Store/Chester Market), Hoole Community Centre, Helsby Library and Neston Youth Community Centre
Meet our new sibling shop (it took a while to name the baby)
Our eco product range started life on stalls and at the farmers market. But getting those items to hubs that aren’t just down the road from me has been, shall we say, a logistical adventure. Meanwhile, more and more people outside Cheshire want to buy from us, and refill liquids and the postal service are not friends.
So, for simplicity, we’re going to have two shops. To help Eco Communities’ finances, the second one is a separate for-profit business: rotan.
We had some great names. Companies House said no. Someone else already had them. After weeks of the name holding everything up, I’m delighted (and slightly relieved) to say it’s decided, and the new Shopify shop is taking shape.
Eco products will be available from rotan online very soon, the online shop is mostly ready.
and
Cheshire Home Store already has the full range we want to keep selling. Those go through the shop till as normal.
Your refill items are still ordered online through the Full Circle Shop.
Keeping refill affordable
As many of you know, we work hard to keep prices affordable. For real change, refill has to work for anyone who cares, not just people on higher incomes. That hasn’t changed and it won’t.
What’s next?
We’re still planning to go for more funding to take the project into schools. We’d also love to find a cost-effective way to support residents in Ellesmere Port with a Refill Hub. For now, that’s Chester Centre, Hoole, Helsby and Neston covered, and we’re working on the rest.
We need your help!
- Haven’t tried us yet? October is the perfect month to start.
- Already refilling? Try one extra product this month.
- Then tell people. Please tell people. We’re not great at social media. Little time. We’re learning how best to run the online shop.
Word of mouth is our secret weapon.
I listened (honest!)
You asked for Toilet Cleaner, and now we have it. You asked for unscented laundry products, and we have those too. Unscented Laundry are in Chester only for now, until the orders start coming in, so consider this your hint.
Any eco products you think we should stock but don’t yet? Let me know. Ideas, thoughts, gentle suggestions, all very welcome. I love a chat.
Come and say hello this Sunday 4th October
I’ll be in Cheshire Home Store on Sunday, running the shop. Will and Connor are getting one last breather before they start the Christmas madness with Digby and Champ locations and Cheshire Home Store to cover.
I’ll have samples to take home, so come and try something new.
You’ll probably find me rearranging the eco corner for the umpteenth time. Please don’t tell me it looked better before.
Coming soon: bag charm sessions
I’m planning some sessions making bag charms from recycled bits and reused old fabrics. If you’d be interested, let me know and I’ll pencil you in.
See you on Sunday!
