I was very surprised, when I visited Hvar in winter for the first time years ago to see so much garbage on the beaches. So much plastic bags, bottles, even shoes, plastic toys, all sort of stuff thrown out by the sea.
It is an unusual sight, you don´t get to see that in summer, because all the beaches will be cleaned by locals as a preparation for the season. But still, the plastic stuff will not disappear, there will be even more and more, because we produce so much garbage
When I was visiting my sister in Switzerland last year, she told me little bit about the waste management in the Zurich area. There are special garbage bags you have to buy (and they are not cheap) and you must only use those for disposing garbage to your street container. Of, course you have to separate plastic from paper and glass and biowaste. but it is up to how many bags you fill – one every day, or just one per week? Will you thing about whether or not you will throw something away? Would you thing about taking that plastic bag in the supermarket in the first place, or would you bring your own reusable shopping bag? Will you start looking at all things you buy as garbage, which will need to be disposed one day?
I sure did start thinking like this, when I got back and started to look for ways to use the stuff I already have, or to only buy something already used by others, but still in a good shape (furniture, a kids bike, etc.). There is so much chemicals (sold in plastic bottles), like cosmetics, cleaning and washing liquids, etc., we actually do not need and have all the power in our hands to stop buying them.
I was thinking about old clothes, which every household has plenty of. Not everything can be given away for others to use (great for kids′ clothes though), but there are so many creative ideas to reuse it, like making a t-shirt yarn for DIY crochet carpets.
I started to make some doily wall art using old clothes as the background material for the beautiful art done by our aunt. I am sure, your grandmother has plenty of those – use them and you will not only make beautiful decorations, but will spend some precious time with your grandmother.
And, of course I am not saying, that this will solve all our waste related problems, it won′t. But many small contributions could have a major impact.
Here is a short video from the Association Sunce (shared at the Faros News FB page) about this problem. We all can do something about it, just start from yourself, from your home and reconsider your personal need for stuff (not only plastic stuff), there is so much we actually do not need and by not buying it, we make all the difference.
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