Hey there, it’s Anaïs here. Today I was thinking about writing about the plastic problem we are facing in this world. I am deeply interested in this topic since it is one we can address as individuals by adapting our ways of consumption. While it is relevant for the topic of our project The World We Have, it came up more recently because of last week, which was the European week of Waste Reduction.
Not only did the topic of plastic waste come up during the European Week of Waste Reduction, but it also became important to us in our daily life. On the weekends Pille and I love to cycle to many places, amongst which the beach is a place we try to go as often as possible. What has been shocking and disappointing me so much here, though, is the amount of plastic we find on these otherwise so beautiful beaches. We wanted to have a picnic on the beach but could not even find one spot which was plastic free. It saddened me so much because if there is so much plastic on this beach, just try to imagine how much plastic there must be in the ocean. Therefore, during this week of waste reduction, Pille came up with the idea of doing a plastic free challenge for a week, together with the VulcanicaMente team. I found this a great idea! I have done a plastic free month back in the Netherlands with my best friend Remi when I first became passionate about sustainability, and this challenge really made me aware about the plastic free options available near me. Doing this challenge here in Lecce would therefore also make me discover some plastic free alternatives that are present around me here. Some things we did during this week in order to avoid plastic were making our own pasta (which is easier than you might think!), take our own reusable bags to the grocery store, take our reusable bottles everywhere and we just tried to find glass or paper alternatives for our usual plastic consumption. My week went quite well, there were only a few things I had to miss out on but it felt really great to have so less plastic to throw out. Of course a one week challenge is not as big of a challenge as a one month challenge would be as we still had some plastic wrapped products we had from before the challenge, but we were certainly more aware of the choices we were making. I now am still trying to buy as little plastic as possible, and will always buy the paper or glass alternative when possible! we also did a tutorial on how to make a reusable bag out of an old t-shirt, check it out on our youtube channel :) Next to this, I have tried to live plastic free for the past two years by implementing some different lifestyle changes as well. One of these is that I have made my own beeswax wraps which have allowed me to never buy plastic wrap again. I have sewed my reusable bags in order to take the fruits and vegetables from the grocery shops or markets in them and I have stopped using bottled shampoo and instead use solid shampoo which does not come in a container. These are a few of the many lifestyle changes I have tried to incorporate in order to avoid this plastic that we cannot seem to escape.But there are soo many more ways in which I can be zero waste which I have yet to discover or yet to come to. How do you limit your plastic waste? I know it might be discouraging to see the amount of waste which has accumulated all around the world, but I truly believe that if we want to see any change in this world we should start by being the change we want to see! Feel free to share your thoughts and tips in the comments!
Anaïs xxxx
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