A NEW plastic-free shop has opened up in Poole's newest shopping area.

Owner of Bare Necessities, Stu Cake launched his new shop at Kingland Crescent at the end of last month.

The eco-friendly shop is not the entrepreneur's first experience of working in a plastic-free shop. He has spent the last few years working alongside his mother-in-law Cheryl in Wareham in her own Bare Necessities shop.

Mr Cake hopes the shop will allow people to become more aware of their own plastic use. He said: “The response has been really good so far. It has been nice to see people come in and know what to do. But it’s also great to see people who don’t know what to do come in and give it their best and give it a try. It gets people’s brains ticking and makes them aware of their use of plastics.”

He added: “It’s all about doing your bit to help the environment. It’s no secret that single-use plastic is an issue. We all need to cut down on it. If we get as many people through our door as possible the issue can be tackled together.

“We wanted to bring it to Poole and make a one-stop shop so people don’t have to use single-use plastic. Just shopping here can have a massive impact on the environment. Taking away just one bottle of plastic will have an impact, let alone a hundred times that.”

Bare Necessities has a variety of essentials ranging from dried pasta, cereal, fruit, spices and detergent all in dispensers. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bottles and jars to fill up with food.

Mr Cake’s idea for his own shop came after opening his eyes to the world of environmentalism. He said: “About four or five years ago I was not a huge believer in environmentalism. I wasn’t really aware of the problems around it.

“But when I started getting involved with the shop in Wareham and started seeing more things in the news about plastic, it dawns on you how relevant and important it is to help the environment.

"We then became a plastic-free household and then two years down the line we opened the shop in Poole.”

Studies have shown that the UK generates around five million tonnes of plastic each year, including 15 million single-use bottles per day.

Residents shopping said it was a great thing to “help local businesses whilst also helping the environment.”

Bare Necessities is open Monday to Saturday, 9am-5:30pm.