Consumers can now use a new tool from non-government organisation Wrap’s ‘Recycle Now’ campaign to find their local refill shop – as the reusable packaging movement in the UK continues to gain momentum.
People looking for sites where they can buy unpackaged goods that can be dispensed in reusable packaging, including cleaning products, personal care goods, store cupboard essentials and gift ideas, can now locate their nearest store which offers refill.
There are 675 places entered on the ‘Refill Locator’, which displays the shops located within a 25-mile radius of a person’s postcode and where alternative returnable options are available for home delivery. According to the data, the most refill shops can be found in London with 63 stores – followed by Bristol 27, Oxford 22, Brighton & Hove 21, Gloucester 19, York 19, Bath 16, Exeter 15, Swansea 14 and Bournemouth with 13 locations.
Recycle Now says kits research shows nearly nine in ten people would try in-store or online refill shopping, with the potential to reduce single-use packaging a key motivation for them doing so.
Recycle Now’s latest citizen recycling tracker, which was published a year ago during Recycle Week 2025, found 25% of those aged 18-34 have taken their own packaging to a refill in-store in the last few years, compared to 8% aged 55 and over.
Interest is high in both age groups, though, with 42% of the younger demographic who have never tried refill shopping saying they are keen to, while 56% aged 55-plus said they are keen to try shopping this way.
Lowelle Bryan, senior specialist at Wrap, commented: “We’re starting to see greater movement on reuse across the industry.
“For example, last year nine of the UK’s largest grocery retailers pledged to examine how reusable packaging could be implemented across their stores and online. To support these industry efforts, we must also inform citizens about the benefits of reuse, to drive up demand.”
Wrap said that, when properly managed, plastics can be a part of a circular economy of packaging – and not just society’s and the environment’s bête noire. However, it is estimated 11 million tonnes of plastics enter the oceans annually, with plastic packaging responsible for 40% of this waste and is the biggest source of leakage into the environment according to World Economic Forum data.
Breaking the Plastic Wave, a 2020 paper by The Pew Charitable Trust, estimated moving to reuse models could reduce annual plastic leakage into the ocean by 20% by 2040. And The Big Plastic Count 2024, led by Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic, found if every UK home refilled just one item each week it would remove 1.4 billion single-use packaging items every year.
Laura Ford, sustainability director at beauty brand Faith In Nature, said: “Refillable solutions are a natural extension of what Faith In Nature has always believed in, that caring for ourselves shouldn’t come at the expense of the planet.
She added: “Providing refillable formats isn’t just an alternative, it’s a vital step towards making sustainable choices more accessible, while helping people save money, and reduce their environmental impact in the process.”
Read more about Faith in Nature on Green Retail World
[main image credit: Green Retail World]
