It is important when you travel to be aware of how the country you are in handles trash and recycling. This way you can be conscious of the damage you are leaving behind when you make purchases. When I was in Belize I learned that not only is there no type of recycling system but all waste is burnt at the home of the creator. There is no trash system whatsoever.
Before you let this information horrify you, I actually think it is a good thing that the consumer has to deal with their choices head on. In the United States we create tons of trash and leave it on the curbside so that somebody else can deal with it. We separate out our recyclable material and lie to ourselves that we did our part when there is a good chance that none of those materials will actually be reused. Of course burning trash is terrible for the environment and I don’t support that, but having to deal with your own trash should motivate you to be a conscious consumer and to reduce your footprint in the world.
If a country doesn’t have good quality drinking water there is a decent chance that they also don’t have a recycling system in place. That means that all of those plastic water bottles that you buy and carelessly leave at your lodging are getting burned and leaking toxins into the air. Why do that when there is a high quality filtered water bottle on the market (Water-to-Go) that allows you to drink both tap water and river water without harm. Not only will you save money by using a filtered water bottle but you will also be saving the planet. If the product exists, why not use it? There are also pens that use UV light (steriPEN) to kill bacteria; that way you can sterilize water before you boil it for your coffee and tea.
While volunteering in Belize my host had boxes and boxes of water bottles that his Airbnb guests left behind that he didn’t want to burn. We came up with a creative way to upcycle the material though this too is only a temporary solution. We cut open the water bottles and filled them with dirt and stacked these dirt bottles inside of a pair of blue jeans. We then planted flowers out of the top of the blue jeans to make what is basically one half of a glorified scarecrow. The finished product looks great and I enjoyed making it but my host still has hundreds of water bottles that he is wondering how to use.
Do you want to leave trails of waste behind you everywhere you go or do you want to have a net zero impact on the planet? At home do you buy a disposable water bottle every single day or do you use a Brita water or refillable large jugs? It is unforgivable to live by a high environmental standard in your own country and then to trash (literally) other countries when you visit them. If you have unintentionally been doing this (I’ll admit I used to) it isn’t too late to change. We were ignorant before but now that we have the knowledge we have the power to change and help the planet.
Chronicles of a Wandering Soul 