A SALISBURY shop is taking steps to protect the environment by becoming completely plastic free.

Goodfayre, in Cross Keys Shopping Centre, has doubled the amount of items which can be bought without the need for any plastic packaging.

Owner Dana Burton introduced the scheme six months ago, allowing customers to buy dried fruit, cereal, pasta, grains, nuts, teas and cleaning products such as laundry detergent and hand soap by weight, taken home in glass jars or paper bags.

“The whole reason for the shop was to cause the least amount of harm to the planet, so it was always the mission to be plastic free,” Dana said.

She said a lot of people had set new year’s resolutions to become more environmentally conscious, and she had seen a big increase in people bringing in re-usable containers to buy goods.

Dana said: “At first we were trialling it and seeing what people like, as it’s fresh it can’t be sitting out for a long time.”

She also hopes it will reduce food waste, adding: “The great thing about it is you can take the quantity you want, so if you had a recipe for 100g of something you wouldn’t have to buy a big bag.”

Prime Minister Theresa May last week announced plans to get rid of all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years.

As part of the environmental plan, supermarkets will be encouraged to have plastic-free aisles, and taxes on single-use plastic items will also be considered.

But Dana thinks the plans, which will not be underpinned by new laws, are “almost not far enough”.

“I think people are starting to wake up to the environmental issues on the planet, and it’s obviously a good thing, but I do worry sometimes that it is too little too late,” she said.

“I’d love to see a high street where everything was completely ethical, completely plastic free and completely vegan.”

In light of the success of the government’s campaign for shops to charge customers 5p for plastic carrier bags, Dana said she would “love to abolish the disposable straw in Salisbury”.

“When you think about it, that one item of plastic will be on the planet forever, and even when you recycle it it is only one use," she said.

“It’s just horrific.”