CLACTON’S first zero waste shop is set to open this month to give environmentally-minded shoppers the chance to limit their reliance on single-use plastics.

Unsealed, located on The Grove in the town centre, will offer people the opportunity to bring re-useable vessels to buy dried loose foods, cleaning products and other items.

Mother and daughter team, Zoe and Kayleigh, open the doors to their new enterprise on Saturday with the help of Tendring Council chairman Daniel Land.

Shoppers coming to the shop will be able to bring their own reusable containers and browse a range of dried food goods, such as nuts, pasta and rice, as well as tea and coffee and liquid refill products.

UnSealed will also offer a water bottle refill service in conjunction with the organisation, ReFill.

Kayleigh Seal, co-founder of Unsealed, said: “Trying to be plastic free is incredibly frustrating and it got me thinking about what I could do to help myself and others to shop plastic free and the idea of opening my own zero-waste shop started to develop.

“In August this year I was made redundant and that was the spur I needed to launch UnSealed.

“I am really looking forward to sharing zero-waste tips and ideas, encouraging people to make small changes and take responsibility for their choices, which will start to make a big difference for own town and the environment.”

Zoe Tipple, co-founder of Unsealed, said: “Living in a coastal town I became increasingly distressed by the plastic pollution I noticed whilst walking on the beach and in the streets.

“We’ve been on our own journey to reduce our own plastic and you just have to go to the supermarket to see how difficult it is to buy anything not wrapped in plastic, it’s actually quite sickening.

“We’re hugely passionate about reducing not just plastic, but any single-use material, and we want to show people that there is another way.”

The shop will stock a wide selection of dried store cupboard foods from flour and dried fruit as well as re-fill oil and vinegar.

People can also re-fill household cleaning and personal care products, such as shampoo, soap bars and zero-waste home ware products.

Customers will also be able to bring their own reusable containers to fill with the products on offer, which means they can buy as much or as little as they like and there will be no packaging to throw away.

Anyone interested in supporting this venture can do so via the crowd-funding page at crowdfunder.co.uk/unsealed---a-zero-waste-shop.