We are entering our third month in SE Asia. It is so much better than I could have ever expected. The biggest struggle we have is the trash and waste. We wanted to participate in #plasticfreejuly. We wanted to be part of that community and learn from other people. It helps to have an extra awareness about one thing and focusing on plastic for the month seemed like a reasonable goal.
So how is it going?
We are failing. Miserably
It is harder than I thought. We talk about it daily, read articles, watch documentaries and follow the hashtag on Instagram. But even with it right in front of our faces, we have not been successful.
I wanted to be honest about the difficulty when traveling. We do have some successes and I want to share those, but I want to first address the three things that have made it the most challenging and what I will try and do better in future travels.
The Struggles
The Language Barrier
I am in my 3rd country this month so far. Vietnam was the hardest. I promise that we have tried every way possible to ask for no straw. We have ordered all drinks “to stay” but there have been a decent amount of places that bring the plastic cup even after all the weird charades we’ve done to order. I get the nod of acknowledgement and yet when the drink comes, the straw is opened and already stuck in my drink.
The best way I could combat this in the future is figuring out how to say these things in the language. I will be honest, learning multiple phrases in three different languages seems impossible for me. I’m struggling with hello and thank you. I also wish we would have brought some metal or glass straws so we had something to point to.
Drinking Water
You cannot drink tap water in these countries. We have relied on buying the biggest bottles we can find at each place we stay so we don’t have to buy bottles. We have had a few wins here too (I’ll share below), but we find ourselves needing plastic water bottles.
We did bring our own bottles, but I wish I would have done more research on the bottles with filters. I might still try to find them while we are here. (Please tell me if you know of good ones.) Trying to find food that we can eat is a challenge and having to worry about water on top of that is hard.
The Heat
We have been in places where the heat index can get to 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. We are doing a lot of sweating and need constant water to drink. On top of that, we have ordered in a few times so we could stay in the cool apartments. Any time you order food, you are probably getting some of plastic. It’s a battle for us because we want to try different foods and we want to stay cool enough to enjoy it.
I was able to find a few places that used cardboard boxes or paper wrapping for the food and had no plastic and we just kept giving them business.
The Wins
Putting the focus on it this month has really helped us realize where we can get some easy wins and we have been focusing on finding those moments as much as possible.
Refill Stations
Thanks to the wonderful app, Refill My Bottle, we have been able to refill the bottles we’ve brought as well as some of the plastic ones we’ve had to purchase. The app has brought us to businesses we would not have discovered as well as a few private homes. All of these locations have signed up to have clean drinking water that you can refill your water bottle with. The first experience was my favorite. We arrived at someone’s home and she let us in to her kitchen. She was cooking lunch with her mom. She was so excited that we were there with empty water bottles and we were so excited about being welcomed into her home.
We have since reached out to some of the places we loved while in Vietnam and encouraged them to become refill stations. I haven’t heard back from any yet, but I will keep working on getting the word out.
Reusable Bags
We packed two of these reusable shopping bags in our suitcase. We keep at least one with us when we are out. It has made the moments at the cash register easier to navigate when we explain we don’t need a bag. There have been moments still when the women selling fruit on the street REALLY want to put our bananas in a plastic bag, but we have won each of those moments.
Constant Conversation
We are halfway through the month and plastic has been a constant topic of communication. We are learning more about the challenges many of these countries face. Everything I pick up in a grocery store or corner shop is analyzed – can I find an option that has less packaging or no packaging?
It’s inspiring to see what other people are doing to cut back on their consumption of anything and everything single use. We obviously need way more people onboard, but getting to cheer on those that are able to go completely plastic free this month is awesome.
My Biggest Learning
After working hard to cut the plastic while on the other side of the planet, I realized that I don’t have these barriers in the US when I’m at home. I can’t blame language or lack of clean water. I’ve learned that while it has been a challenge here, I can be near perfect in the US. There is no excuse to cutting out all the extra convenience waste back home. I say near perfect because it will take practice and constant awareness since we live in a world that likes to sell you “easy and quick.”
I will also say that being here, you aren’t able to forget the problems that trash causes for this planet. These countries have so much garbage they aren’t set up to manage and you are constantly reminded when you see it on the sides of roads and even on the islands in Ha Long Bay. I can do so much better and so much more.
