Helen Tandy, Founder Eco Communities
In many of our homes, there’s a familiar ritual. We stuff soft plastics into the Wholly Shrink until a huge pile of crisp packets, bread bags and film turns into a neat little sausage-shaped parcel. That parcel fits easily into the soft plastics collection bins at many supermarkets. Lovely! My husband did ours today, ready for this week’s shop.
Got your own Wholly Shrink yet? We have three left from our original bulk order: one still boxed and two unboxed. If you’d like one, just get in touch.
The down: we’re waiting even longer
I always thought the supermarket trip was a short-term fix. The plan was for councils to start collecting flexible plastics from our homes in 2027. Sadly, like so many things in recycling lately, that has now been pushed back to 2030.
That means crisp packets, wrappers and plastic film won’t be collected from our doorsteps for years yet. Keep shrinking and dropping them off, but it’s also a reminder that the best plastic is the plastic we never bring home in the first place. That’s exactly why refill and reuse matter. Every bottle you refill at a Full Circle hub is one less piece of packaging to deal with at all.
The up: deposit return is finally on its way
Now for some good news. We’ve been waiting for a Deposit Return Scheme for many, many years. It was already being discussed in government back in 2018, when Chester became a Plastic Free Community.
It’s taken far too long, but the scheme is still on track to launch across the UK on 1 October 2027. A 20p deposit will be added to plastic bottles and cans, and you’ll get it back when you return them. Countries with deposit schemes see far fewer bottles and cans in hedgerows, rivers and on beaches, and much higher recycling rates. We can’t wait.
Until then, keep refilling, keep reusing, and keep those shrink parcels coming.
