A NURSE has opened a plastic-free shop after her partner spent two-hours trying to find a courgette with no packaging.
Hove resident Harriet Dean-Orange launched her new venture, Harriet’s of Hove, with her partner Mhiran Patel in Blatchington Road on Saturday, November 24.
She said: “I actually had a dream that I owned a shop called Harriet’s of Hove where everything was plastic-free.
“In the morning, I told my partner about it jokingly but he thought it was a great idea.”
Harriet is a senior theatre nurse at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and Mhiran is a dentist.
She said that these jobs could often make it hard to live sustainably.
Harriet said: “I have always had an interest in sustainability and started by looking into what I could do to be more sustainable at home, so I tried to do plastic free July bit it that was almost impossible while doing shift work.
“I realised that it was quite a desperate state of affairs as everything was wrapped in plastic, there were very few places exploring package-free ideas.”
Mhiran joined her in attempting the month-long global campaign and faced similar problems.
Harriet said: “Mhiran has not always been as sustainably minded as myself but he really took on the challenge of plastic-free July.
“He couldn’t find a courgette that wasn’t in plastic wrapping in the whole of Hove and that was a real eye-opener for him.”
So, the couple decided to provide a service to make it easier for other people to shop without creating plastic waste.
Harriet said: “We wanted to make a haven for people who think like us.
“It was really important for us to not just be a niche store with a few items, we wanted to be a store where you could come and do everything so there’s no need for wasteful shopping.”
She was also amazed by the response to the store.
Harriet said: “The online response has been amazing, our customers have done our promotion for us and we have been having really healthy conversations with them about plastic-free living.
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