Three primary schools in Rochdale have opened eco refill shops, giving pupils hands on business experience while helping families reduce single use plastic.
Belfield Community Primary School, Heap Bridge Village Primary School and Castleton Primary School have each launched a refill shop offering products such as shampoo, body wash and laundry liquid. Parents, staff and local residents are encouraged to bring their own containers to top up everyday essentials rather than buy new plastic bottles.
The initiative has been supported through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority eco refill programme in partnership with Pupil Profit, alongside additional backing from Rochdale Borough Council.
At Castleton Primary School, the shop is led by pupils from the school’s Rights Respecting Team.
Jane Ellison, year 6 teacher at Castleton Primary School, said: “Our new eco refill shop is an important step in our journey as a Gold Rights Respecting School working towards Eco Schools status. Led by pupils from our Rights Respecting Team, it helps children develop responsibility, environmental awareness and practical sustainability skills. By encouraging families to reuse 500ml bottles for refills like soap and shampoo, the shop has strong potential to reduce plastic waste while benefitting both our pupils and the wider school community.”
Each shop is run by teams of pupils who take on roles including finance, marketing and sales. They create business plans, set prices and manage transactions, gaining experience of how profit and loss works.
Gillian Ogden, teacher at Belfield Community Primary School, said: “The children quickly developed new skills while preparing for launch day. Working in teams, they created business plans, chose the shop's name and logo, set prices to balance profit and affordability, and organised the Eco Refill shop setup. They have efficiently handled card payments, tracked sales, and promoted the business through marketing, while sharing the importance of reducing plastic waste. The website and programme are well-structured, making it easy for them to complete the online modules and develop their green skills.”
Councillor Tricia Ayrton, deputy leader and cabinet member for climate change and environment at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This initiative is designed to equip young individuals with essential enterprise skills and to help them understand how important it is to reduce waste. Additionally, it will help us reach our goal, as part of Greater Manchester, of being carbon neutral by 2038.
“It’s wonderful to see that our borough now has six eco refill shops operating successfully, as we all need to play our part in reducing, repurposing and recycling plastic products.”
The three new shops build on earlier launches at Marland Hill Community Primary, St Peter’s RC Primary and Hamer Community Primary School in 2024. Hamer’s eco shop was later highlighted during its Ofsted inspection.
National figures show UK households dispose of around 90 billion pieces of plastic packaging each year, equating to more than two million metric tons of waste. Supporters of the scheme say encouraging reuse at a local level can help reduce the long term environmental impact.
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