Four mums who launched Dorset’s first mobile zero waste shop have taken the hard decision to close its doors - but it’s hoped this won’t be the end of its journey.

The Green Weigh has announced the last trading day will be March 28.

They said that ‘so many things haven’t been working’ and the workload on top of their primary jobs had ‘taken its toll’. The decision to close also came from them having young families, who they are ‘missing terribly’.

The Green Weigh began trading in August 2018 and is run by Libby Rogers, Alex Green, Kate Robertson and Lizzie Rhodes, who have taken their trusty van ‘Gertie’ to towns and villages across west Dorset and east Devon to bring plastic-free shopping and items to communities.

Libby, of The Green Weigh, said: “It is very sad and was a hard decision, but our children are still very young and it has been difficult to juggle it all.

“Many thanks to every one of you that pledged and supported us in the beginning and have continued to support us throughout. We have loved meeting so many kind and wonderful people who have brightened our days - and turned up in all weathers - and will remain our friends.

“We are proud to have played a part in helping Dorset to reduce their household waste and we could not have done any of it without your support.

“The last two and a half years have been a steep learning curve for us all, for which we are incredibly grateful to have experienced. We are also eternally grateful to you all, we will miss this and you all very much, but feel this is the right thing to do now for ourselves.

“We don’t feel that it is the end of the road for The Green Weigh and more than anything we would love to find a buyer who has got the time to invest that we haven’t had.

“We would love to see Gertie moving forward and covering more areas and helping more people change their shopping habits and reducing plastic for the future.

“We have had so many lovely comments from people who have told us that The Green Weigh has influenced them to change the way they think about single use plastics. Even though our decision to sell has been hard, we feel we’ve created a wonderful legacy.”