The Refillery has been named one of the best businesses in the UK for its contribution to economic, environmental and social vibrancy

A plastic-free shop has been named one of the best businesses in Scotland.

Edinburgh plastic-free and zero waste store The Refillery has been named one of the best businesses in the UK for its contribution to economic, environmental and social vibrancy.

Just a year after throwing open its doors, the shop has beaten its sales projections, created five jobs and saved over 120,000 pieces of plastic packaging from being used.

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.

Wright got involved in numerous packaging reducing initiatives but felt this was only scratching the surface of the problem, believing we all, as consumers, need to change the way we 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 12 January 2019 and now stocks over 800 product lines. Wright used her savings to meet half of the startup costs of the business, with the remainder coming in an ethical loan from Scottish responsible finance provider, DSL Business Finance.

This week the business was named one of three UK finalists for an Environmental Sustainability of the Year Award in the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards, funded by the Citi Foundation.

Wright said: “We’re delighted to be a finalist for the Environmental Sustainability Award and to be recognised for the hard work this year in making plastic free shopping more accessible. 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.”