Mara Holloway trained in environmental science at the University of Stirling and spent two years working at a packaging-free grocery in Edinburgh before opening ReCircle in 2019. She fitted out the Caldwell Street shop largely herself, sourcing second-hand dispensers from a closed deli and a weigh scale from a retired cheesemonger. Before the shop, she ran a small blog called The Slow Pantry, which is where she first started writing about the gap between wanting to reduce waste and finding it genuinely convenient to do so. On Saturdays she usually brings in a thermos of coffee and a sourdough loaf from the bakery two doors down. She is working on a short printed zine about DIY cleaning recipes, due out in autumn 2026.