Yeah! It’s an amazing place. I haven’t written much about it but I plan to eventually. I will still be here next year so feel free to contact me if you want info.

But plastic is a HUGE issue. Even in the traditional markets, everything is put in plastic bags when its sold. There is plastic everywhere here, in the gutters, streets, alleyways are literally blocked with trash sometimes. It makes it really in your face whereas in Europe and the US I never felt so much pressure to do something about it. Recycling seemed like the solution. (Although now I have learned a huge percentage of that never actually gets recycled.)

I started ordering produce from a local farm that delivers everything in reusable containers. Anything that is in plastic we just send back the next week and they get reused so at least there is that.

When I need to, I go to the supermarket or market with mesh bags that can be weighed and sealed the way they do with plastic for produce and they laugh at me but I don’t care. They do promote reusable bags 1 day per month! On that day they don’t use plastic at the checkout but still, the produce is full of it.

The other issue is they sell things like hair products and soap in super small containers to keep the price low. So you throw out twice as many as you would if they had big bottles. I’m also moving toward bar soaps for that reason. But I don’t think I would have seen the issue if I were in the US.

I am not an expert on these issues at all, just a concerned citizen. So glad Kristi Keller wrote this article!