We love interviewing Charlies! Like our other favourite Charlies—Charlie from Zero Store and Charlie Brown—this Charlie doesn’t wait for change; she makes it happen.
“life has no remote, get up and change it yourself” Charlie Brown
This Charlie is Charlie Rudkin-Wilson founder of Müll Club. She’s obsessed with rubbish. We go way back from when she was a FILL Stockist running her zero waste shop. Now she’s closing the loop in a different way. On a mission to transform our broken recycling system. She makes one man’s trash another man’s treasure. You can send her your waste and she’ll work her magic to transform it into beautiful, purposeful objects to be used a limitless number of times.
We needed to know more about Charlie, we asked her a few questions and here she is, in her own words…
WHO ARE YOU?
Charlie Rudkin-Wilson founder of Müll Club.
WHAT IS Müll Club?
A business that recycles household plastic waste and transforms it into purposeful homewares.
HOW DID YOU WIND UP DOING WHAT YOU DO?
After my refill shop in South East London grew quieter as people returned to their fast-paced lives post-lockdown, I realised that changing shopping habits for my community wasn’t enough. If I couldn’t stop people from buying plastic, I decided to tackle what happens to it instead. This quickly grew from a community project into a UK wide recycling scheme.
WHY IS Müll Club A COOL PLACE TO BE?
Müll Club is cool because we’re flipping recycling on its head—no greenwashing, no hidden incineration, just real impact. We’ve built the UK’s first transparent, trackable recycling system, turning waste into bold, beautifully designed products loved by Vogue and even Jaguar. We take rubbish directly from homes and recycle it all in house in Margate.
IF YOU WEREN’T RUNNING Müll Club WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?
I honesstly have no idea what else I’d be doing.
WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON?
We are at a really exciting stage, we’ve just moved into the Lab, our new studio in Margate. We’re about to grow once again, we have a second location in the pipeline and with this we will really scale our mission to have a much bigger impact and grow our recycling capabilites. Plus launch our new range.
WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE TO REUSE?
I first made the decision to reuse and launch my refill shop when I became furstrated at the lack of plastic free options in the local stores. Our area didn’t have a refill shop, so I took it upon myself to open one. This coupled with the understanding of how flawed our recycling system, I wanted to create a positive impact in my community.
WHAT DO YOU REFILL?
I refill all my cleaning products, and what skincare products I can.
WHY FILL REFILL?
The scents are the absolute best bit about Fill, especially the hand wash, my customers loved it.
COOLEST OTHER REFILLABLE?
UpCircle.
HOW DO YOU ESCAPE?
Runs on the beach.
A VALUABLE LESSON
Don’t let self doubt get in the way.
RECOMMEND SOMETHING
Sunrise runs and sea swims.
ONE PLACE WE SHOULD GO SEE
Margate!
WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION?
Total disruption of the recycling industry.
WHY?
We can’t rely of councils and governement to implement change, especially not at the speed we need it. Currently in the UK 58% of the waste that enters our kerbside recycling system is incinerated, 14% is exported and 11% enters landfill, only 17% is recycled.
THINGS YOU COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT
My dog.
LAST SONG YOU CHOSE TO LISTEN TO…
Müll Club
Studio Address – 100-102 Northdown Road, Margate, CT9 2RE
www.mull-club.co.uk
