2026 Chair's reflection

Our Chair and Founder, Greg Hewitt, shares his reflection on the 2026 event below

The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations may have stalled, but action on plastic in the UK certainly hasn’t. The Plastic Free Gathering has transformed from an idea of bringing people together to be inspired to take action on plastic, into a thriving Plastic Free movement. What really shone through at this year’s Gathering was the concept of just one individual having an idea to tackle single-use plastic and turning it into a successful business, organisation or community project.

In the main room, Jen Gale from Sustainable-ish opened the event superbly, setting the scene for what we’re trying to achieve. Following her, we heard from Edd Moore, Ellie Jackson (Wild Tribe Heroes) and Peter Hoyland (Plastic Free Exmoor), showing that children are learning the facts and are showing that it’s their generation that can lead the way in taking action on plastic. 

Reuse is an important topic for discussion, and that’s why we were really pleased to welcome Mitch Platt (Yoyo Grocery) and Andy Flinn (Circulayo) to showcase two different types of reusables - one using plastic bags and one using plastic cups. Despite our name, we’re not against plastic if it can be used and reused over and over again. Both Andy and Mitch are proving that reusing plastic can become the norm in everyday life.

Showcasing innovative business ideas is something our organising team are passionate about, as they can be a huge inspiration, showcasing what is possible to take action on plastic. Lisa from SNOAP is showing success through her work with the Dragons’ from the Den, rolling out liquid soap without any of the single-use plastic. Nisha’s (Green Tomato) presentation was eye-opening, and showed what happens when you’re fed up with all the plastic wrapped fruit and veg in the supermarket, taking inspiration from the fruit and veg wagons in India.

Policy is an important issue to talk about, as if we don’t influence policy, we can never have the change we need to see. So it was great to be joined by Adrian of Valpak who gave us an update on the current policy changes affecting plastic. Adrian was joined by Steve of RECOUP. Adrian made a great point that the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) being rolled out in autumn 2027 will be flawed, in that it will only work for new products which have been set up to work with the scheme, and that all historic plastic won’t work, thus not making a difference to really tackle plastic pollution. At The Plastic Free Gathering, we believe that the truly effective way to tackle this issue is through a strong Global Plastics Treaty, where talks are restarting early next year.

One of the reasons we set up The Plastic Free Gathering was because we’re concerned about the closure of zero waste/refill shops. And so we put it on this year’s agenda. We were really glad to be joined by Keith Hunt (Our Precious Earth) and Rebecca Kinnard and Paul Garner (Suma) to discuss this important issue. Jesse from Lemon & Jinja (the UK’s largest refill shop) recorded a video to bring us her views. What we learnt was that creating a sense of community is really important - so talking to customers and finding out what they want, as well as creating collaboration instead of competition. We hope that these vital messages can get out to zero waste/refill shops so that more shops do not close. These shops need all the support they can get. Suma is a wholefoods company supplying these shops, using ethical and sustainable practices within their products. Suma is able to continue business by diversifying where they supply their products. Many health food and wholefood shops are not exclusively plastic free, however they offer an opportunity for refill and plastic free products.

The final session of the day was all about innovation. We first heard from Chris Brown, an award-winning founder of No More Lids, who is disrupting the disposable cup industry, removing the plastic liner and rolling out The Good Cup - perfect for businesses who find it challenging and costly to roll out reusable cups. And finally, Stuart Chidley from Reposit told the room of an exciting new pilot they’re rolling out in Ottawa, Canada, involving L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever products as reusables/returnables. If successful, these global brands could introduce returnable products in the UK, so a very promising future.

The breakout room at the event focused on highlighting incredible stories to take action on plastic. Lorraine from Party Without Plastic talked about their work to reduce single-use plastic at parties - a common occurrence and one that sees a huge amount of plastic. The best thing we learnt in Lorraine’s talk was that children are our greatest advocate, they just get it - the importance of environmental sustainability, recycling and reuse, how it affects nature and the other animals we share this earth with; it was heartening that we are leaving it in safe hands! 

Livvy Drake of Sustainable Sidekicks did a great round-up of how to inspire community to make sure sustainability is at the forefront of their mind; how, when and where you bring up these issues can affect whether you get people onboard or not - use the acronym EAST; if you make it Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely activities to do,  the general public are more likely to do them. 

The talk from John Marchant at REUSE foundation taught us about issues facing rural India - sachets of shower gel, soap, shampoo, conditioners were so prevalent. REUSE Foundation are doing incredible work trialling refill, with huge success and buy-in from the local community.

Leon Williams of Plantsea showed how an idea could generate a start-up company and now large scale manufacture of a seaweed-based biopolymer for the food and laundry products. And Andy Williams of Aquapak showed us an equally interesting marine-safe, water-soluble, compostable plastic covering for food packaging. This is really promising for the future.

Andy and Beverley from Strandliners gave an inspiring and thought-provoking perspective into the nurdle spill crisis that their volunteers dealt with, along with the work they do around citizen science, collecting data and turning it into positive action.

To finish the day, we heard from Charlotte Mason-Curl, from The Kids Party Pact, who is trying to normalise affordable, sustainable, planet-friendly parties which still have the joy but not the great amount of clutter and presents normally associated with children's parties - trying to raise children that know happiness is not necessarily associated with material stuff!

As Jen Gale highlighted, there are some incredible changemakers doing amazing work to take action on plastic, but these are often in silos. The Plastic Free Gathering is helping by bringing together these people. Giving inspiration, providing motivation, and most importantly encouraging collaboration. We realise this is so important in these challenging times, and it’s why we’ve now launched Plastic Free Alliance UK, turning these conversations happening at one annual event, into a platform that keeps these ongoing throughout the year. The Plastic Free movement can thrive when it comes together, for together we are stronger. I look forward to some inspiring and insightful conversations happening throughout the year, and then we will get together in June 2027 in Manchester to meet in person once again.

Thank you so much to everyone who attended this year’s Gathering, along with our incredible speakers and sponsors who made the event a reality. We look forward to seeing you in the Plastic Free Alliance and in Manchester in 2027.