A WOKINGHAM store devoted to transforming our buying habits celebrated its second birthday on Saturday.
Maya’s Refillables celebrated with cakes and bubbly as Maya shared her anniversary with shoppers.
She is dedicated to helping the borough develop a refilling habit, to help reduce the amount of containers that go to landfill.
“A lot of people have come to celebrate with us,” she said.
“At one point we couldn’t actually walk in through the door.
“And so many have said that they are glad to be part of this movement, learning to consume differently.”
Maya has done some calculations.
In five years, since she began her refillables journey on her Wokingham market stall, the borough has refilled around 95,000 containers.
This means that 4.7 tons of plastic (or the weight of three cars) has been saved from landfill.
“It doesn’t feel real,” she said.
“If you had said five years ago that this would become a shop that is so important to so many people in Wokingham and beyond, I wouldn’t have believed it.
“I’m very proud to be the director of a company that can provide green jobs to local people, in a position to influence other companies to go greener, and able to contribute to managing committees on new projects that bring even more sustainability options to residents and businesses in the borough.
“My vision and my mission is to help break down even more barriers to sustainability in every aspect of people’s lives, home, work, school, charities, and leisure.
“My first leaflet at the market had just 17 products for sale.
“Now we have 400, and they’re all plastic free; the ingredients, and the packaging.
“It’s really a different way of shopping, but a lot of people really appreciate it.
“It’s not difficult to do and it’s not more expensive than the supermarkets.
“It’s making a difference in people’s lives, and I’m very pleased about it.”
Cllr Tony Lack, who was Wokingham town mayor at the time of the shop’s first day of trade, and who opened the store, visited Maya’s Refillables with his wife, Claire.
He said: “It’s wonderful to see that Maya’s still doing amazing trade, and that her move from the market has proved to be really successful.
“Her customer base keeps building – it’s very good news.”
As well as providing refillable products, the store is a collection point for people wanting to recycle items.
“Ali in Spencers Wood collects a lot of things for Terracycle, who can recycle specific things that Wokingham Borough Council can’t process,” Maya explained.
“And money raised from these collections goes to local charities and organisations.
“Since we started two years ago, we’ve given Ali around 1,200 kgs of recyclable items – things like pens, ink cartriges, make-up bottles and bras.”
Latex balloons for the celebration were provided by The Wild Card on Broad Street, brownies were delivered by Jayne from Jayne’s Vegan Market, and Tara, from Hamlet bistro restaurant in Peach Place, served drinks.
For information, visit: www.mayasrefillables.com, www.thewildcardshop.com, www.facebook.com/JaynesVeganBakes, and www.hamletwokingham.co.uk
