A WHOLE food store on a mission to stop the planet drowning in plastic is taking matters into its own hands by introducing its own zero waste section.

Owners of the Wholefood Store, in Manningtree, are so against single use plastic, they have launched a zero waste food section for their best selling products.

The store, in High Street, is stocking its six best selling foods loose for customers to weigh up in their own containers or paper bags provided.

It is also planning on making the whole organic dried fruit, seed and nut section packaging free over the coming months.

The store's own brand products of rice, cereals, dried fruits, nuts and seeds are all packing in house into compostable bags, but the dried food supplier has yet to offer an alternative to plastic packaging.

Sarah Mawkes, owner, said there are eight million pieces of plastic making their way into the ocean every day.

She said: "Products must become more unpolluted at each step of the supply chain and every stage of production.

"The manufacturers intention plays a role too by not funding the pouring of toxic chemicals into the environment."

She said we all need to address the way we are living before we run out of natural resources.

"Making a switch to a more zero waste life will not only improve the earth's health but also our personal health and animal health," she added.

A host of documentaries about the impact of plastic pollution have made an impact on sales at the store too.

Sarah said: "We have always sold a lot of household and body care refills but now the demand is going through the roof for many other packaging free natural products including loose soaps, bamboo toothbrushes, reusable coffee cups, water bottles, lunch boxes and cotton bags as well as bulk buy wholefoods and loose organic fruit and veg."

To make the area more eco-friendly, Sarah believes a commercial composting facility would be great for businesses like hers.

Commercial composting is large-scale composting designed to handle a very high volume of organic waste.

She added: "We have been offering household refills for 21 years now, and we're pleased to say recently we have been getting busier and busier in this section.

"People are realising how awful our plastic pollution is and are beginning to really make the effort to re-use old containers."