A Whitchurch business owner is taking part in a UK-wide campaign to reduce plastic waste.

Maria MacNae, the owner of Refill Your Boots on High Street, is taking part in the Just One Bottle campaign to reduce plastic waste and to encourage other people to do the same.

Maria said: “Lots of the refill shops around the country are running the same campaign just to try and encourage people to start and make one change that can make a big difference.”

Refill Your Boots is a zero-waste shop where customers are encouraged to refill empty shower gel, washing up liquid and shampoo bottles rather than throwing them out.

Maria added that 51,384 plastic bottles would be saved from going to recycling or landfill sites if each Whitchurch household refilled one bottle per month.

She said there has been a positive response to refilling bottles rather than throwing them out.

“The response has been amazing," Maria continued. "We have regular shoppers there who come and do their weekly shop with us and go on to the supermarket to get what they can’t get from us.

“We’re overwhelmed by how receptive people have been to it. We feel really lucky that the community in Whitchurch is really getting on board with it.

“And it’s not just the liquid side. We do refills on foods as well.”

The recent COP26 climate change summit was important for refill shops, including Maria’s. While COP26 was going on there were TV programmes which featured refill shops. Since COP26, Maria’s shop has received more customers.

Maria felt her involvement in the Just One Bottle campaign would lead to societal change, in both Whitchurch and across the UK, on the issue of plastic waste with people opting to refill contains and bottles rather than use excess plastic.

“I think it’ll eventually become the norm," she said. "Supermarkets are trialling refills and I think eventually it will get picked up by the mainstream companies.

“I think people realise we need to do something. We don’t have to have everything in a new packet every time.”