The rows of food dispensers at Awesome Wales are full of every kitchen product you could ever want: from staples like pasta and rice to the more exotic wheat gluten used in vegan baking.

It's like a grown-up pic'n'mix and far more fun than the supermarket shopping experience. Funnily enough, the shop also stocks pic'n'mix sweets...

Amy Greenfield and Stuart Burnell opened Cowbridge's first zero-waste store five and a half weeks ago.

Located at 44 High Street, the shop offers almost everything you could find at the supermarket and more across two-storeys.

On the first floor you can find pantry staples such as pasta, rice, beans, dried fruit, sweets, spices, plus jarred and canned goods, toiletries and cleaning products.

Upstairs are ethically-sourced toys, clothes and crockery, as well as a zero-waste coffee shop.

Stuart and Amy feel that anyone should be able to access the zero-waste lifestyle and recognised that high prices often restrict people from taking part.

Instead Awesome Wales is a social enterprise project, meaning that any profit the shop makes must be reinvested into the shop or donated to charity.

"We try not to sell anything for more than the price at other retailers," Stuart told Nub News.

"For example, your average jar of basil is around £1.20, we sell same the amount for about 17p.

"We're trying to fight food poverty, so everything we do is Fairtrade and locally-sourced, as much as we can.

"We use food co-ops for our deliveries so that everybody is being paid fairly and we do a vast amount of research on companies before we stock their products.

"It's a lot more work than I realised, in research alone. I've learnt a lot in the last 18 months.

"It's crazy the number of things that have plastic in. Tea bags, for example, have plastic particles in and you drink it. So, we have plastic-free tea bags and loose-leaf tea too," he said.

Although investigating the environmental quality of brands can be complicated, shopping at Awesome Wales is simple.

Customers either bring their own containers or borrow from the shop, which is weighed.

After printing the weight label and sticking it on the container, you then fill it up with your chosen product and return to the scales, scanning the weight label to measure the difference and print the price label.

Once you've got everything you need, you can head to the till. Whether it's for demerara sugar, shampoo, or washing up liquid, the process is the same.

If you can't do it yourself, Awesome Wales also offers both a click and collect and a delivery service, which were born during the first lockdown.

"In the first lockdown we only had the Barry shop and we were panicking," said Stuart.

"We went to click and collect immediately and it took off. I had to go and buy a van because renting on just wasn't feasible anymore.

"We were doing around 130 orders a day, around 60 deliveries and 60-odd queuing to collect pre-weighed items, because we couldn't have people in the shop. It was crazy.

"It was nice to see and actually retain a lot of the customers. They realised that what we sell here is cheaper or equal to the supermarkets with less of the packaging," he said.

Stuart and Amy also place orders with companies that offer circular economy when delivering items, to ensure less plastic wastage and carbon emissions.

"Downstairs I say we have all the boring stuff, and upstairs is the exciting bit," Stuart said.

"Our coffee shop can seat up to 12 people and offers locally-roasted, blueprinted coffee from Uncommon Ground in Cardiff.

"So, we know that everyone involved in making it is being paid fairly and there's a really low carbon footprint.

"We have glass bottle milk from a local dairy, locally made cakes and cookies and we're about to start offering soups and paninis, but we have to work out the plastic-free aspect of the sandwich fillings," he said.

Customers can also find ethically-made children's clothing, Fairtrade toys from Sri Lanka, and children's story books featuring ecological tales.

There are also wares from local artists who have been unable to sell at markets due to Coronavirus. These include upcycled clothes, crockery, and bird houses.

Upstairs is a perfect place to find unique gifts for a plastic-free Christmas presents while shopping locally to support the Cowbridge high street and Chamber of Trade.

Visit Awesome Wales's website and Facebook page to find out more.