What tons of pleasant surprises I have been having in the Caribbean these weeks in terms of how the ecologic footsteps currently are. When years back getting something on the beach meant that it would be a plastic cup, a plastic lid and a plastic straw and mandatory napkins with that, with a bit of a gap in between this shifted into a whole different direction.
Not only have I not seen one plastic straw anymore (which is fantastic because are these are those typical things which blow away over the beach and into the ocean to end up into some fishes belly) but I also saw this on my ice coffee:
'This container turns into a nutrient rich fertilizer
I am not plastic, I am compostable'
So the cup will return back to nature, the straw is made of recycled newspapers and all of these things are so new I didn't even know. A couple of years ago it was unthinkable to ever order carbord plates or boxes anywhere, styrofoam was the way to go. But after styrofoam lost its glance and got forbidden in more and more place new affordable alternatives had to come up.
And there they are like nothing was ever different and people just never talk about styrofoam again because you just can't buy it anymore.
Gone and forgotten.
Take this cardboard to-go box. Doing the same job but just it is made out of recycled stuff. It is the almost the only thing here in Aruba which you can get.
And I like it. Are we paying more for this? Most likely we are. But adding something to the bill for not using any plastic should be something we should not complain about.
Travel already is already not really an eco friendly thing to do, as areas are way more exploited naturewise as they should. But doing these kinds of things to reduce a bit of the problem, I hope the trend blows over to other countries as well!