Budelicious!

If you attended this local food fair, it's likely you were accosted in the foyer by Jackie, or Jackie's husband Paul - "fill in this questionnaire" they said. So you did. And the response was over whelming. Bude wanted a plastic free shop. Eek! The momentum really gathered speed, with Deb, working the main hall like a pro and picking up two new volunteers - Sue who had been thinking about setting up a waste free shop, and Lou who had also thought about setting up a waste free shop but didn't know where to start.

passionate about plastic waste

Jackie and Genevieve met at a nutritional course in 2017 and realised they shared a keen interest in environmental matters. After chatting about running an alternatives to plastic website and blog, the conversation naturally progressed to a zero waste shop and Gen has been on board from day one. The first time they met to discuss ReFILL Shop Bude, they didn't draw breath, talking for hours (its like that when you're passionate about plastic!).

Karen wants to help!

Karen was one of the first responders to Deb's call to action on FaceBook saying 'wouldn't it be great if...'. When exactly they started talking shop is a little hazy. It was probably a St Petroc's fundraiser night at AnMor and there may have been cider involved. There definitely was cider.

Shebfest 18

More chatting and drinking wine, gin, cider .... and a chance meeting with like minded Rachel (aka among other things, licensed victualler of The Barrel Bude ) at Shebfest and the seed that was ReFILL Shop had taken root. That same night, Deb posted on A Greener Bude's FaceBook page. Would this work? Who wants a zero waste shop? Who wants to help run a zero-waste shop?

And then there were two

Here's a face you all know! The driving force of A Greener Bude, super green warrior Deb. A Greener Bude is an organisation made up of likeminded environmental groups, organisations, businesses and individuals working together towards sustainable tourism and a circular economy in Bude - an exemplar town in so many ways, but no one was doing a single use plastic free shopping concept. So Deb and Jackie, already friends for quite a few years (it’s that Essex girl bond), found them selves enjoying the last of the summer wine at Deb's beach hut, chatting zero waste shopping ideas. But the wine got in the way, and that's as far as it went, until ShebFest...

where it all began

So where did our story begin? Lets go back to day zero. It started with with Jackie. If you're local to Bude, you might know her as Bude Buyers Club's affectionately named 'Bog Roll Lady' - not that we'd ever call that to her face of course. And ReFILL Shop really became a natural extension of the buyers club. But like a 2.0 version, without any plastic and with a really splendid logo and community focused ethos. Jackie was, and still is the driving force behind ReFILL Shop.