A PAIR of Abergavenny mums who share a passion for reducing plastic waste in Monmouthshire and beyond have set up a business which now has a weekly presence in Abergavenny Market.

Little Green Refills, was launched by Ellen Hinton and Beth Oram, two mums local to Abergavenny, who are concerned about the environment and our impact on it.

The firm offers a refills delivery service of cleaning, household, body care and toiletry products, reducing the number of single use plastic containers that households commonly dispose of.

Ellen stated, ’We work much like a milkman, you put your empties out and we refill them. We have collection points in and around Abergavenny, Monmouth, Hereford and Newport and many areas in between and are looking to establish more.’

’In line with our ethos, the products that we stock are bought in bulk from a co-operative wholesaler and almost all are supplied to us in recyclable containers. When we receive our deliveries the supplier collects the empty containers or boxes and, where possible, recycles them.’

Our bottles are 100% recyclable glass. If you return your bottles to us they will be reused by us. We also work alongside some local cafes collecting their empty glass drinks bottles (which would otherwise go straight to recycling) and use these for our refills too.

The company has a collection point in Abergavenny Market every Tuesday. Collection points have also been set up at The Towpath Inn, Gilwern, open all day every day throughout the spring/summer months and at Abbey Quine Clinic, Llanellen, Open Monday - Friday 8.30am - 6pm.

A recent statement from Monmouthshire County Council reiterated the local authority’s determination to reduce the impact of single use plastic locally, saying. ’We have seen a huge surge of interest in single-use plastics. Not least because of the shocking scenes of plastic contamination in our oceans.

Precious fossil fuels are used to make single use plastics like straws and polystyrene trays. These items cost money to buy and then dispose of. The light weight and durable nature of plastic makes it a useful everyday material but when it is thrown as litter, it blights our landscape, causes injury to wildlife and can take hundreds of years to break down.

As a council, we are taking steps to reduce our own use of unnecessary, single use plastic and polystyrene - and are encouraging others to do the same.