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.