How it started
From a bedroom to Oxford's main trashing supplier.
EcoTrash started the way most good things do — with a problem, a small budget, and a bedroom. Founded in 2019, it began as a one-person operation: sourcing eco-friendly alternatives to conventional trashing products and delivering them by hand across Oxford to students who wanted to celebrate their exams without trashing the environment too.
Since the 1970s, trashing has been a beloved Oxford tradition. But the conventional products left a real environmental cost. We set out to change that.
Word spread fast. Students loved that they could get biodegradable confetti, natural coloured powder, exam carnations and more — delivered same day, right to their pidge, for free. What started as a small side project quickly grew into something much bigger.
Within a few years, EcoTrash had grown into the main provider of eco-friendly trashing equipment in Oxford — serving students across 38 colleges, featured in The Oxford Blue and the OX1 Incubator's #meetthestartup series, and trusted by JCR treasurers for bulk orders season after season.
From a bedroom to the notice boards of nearly every common room in Oxford. We couldn't be prouder of what this became.