Reduce our Waste Travel to St Lucia
Let’s face it. Air travel is not zero waste. However, since my goal is to reduce my waste while still having fun, going on vacation isn’t something that I am willing to give up. To minimize my footprint, I always travel with reusable utensils, a few containers and water bottles and try to share best practices with others (even if they are not always well received). Recently, I was fortunate enough to go to St Lucia, a small island in the West Indies. With a population of only 117,000 and a mountainous landscape, St Lucia felt very intimate and homey. We rented an apartment for a week so that we could cook and not have to eat out all the time.
Driving to our apartment was an adventure in itself. While the main roads were easy to travel, any side streets were an adventure. The “road” up to our apartment was not fully paved and had huge holes in it, however, the view from our balcony made it all worthwhile.
Unlike some other islands, St Lucia has the climate and land allowing people to to grow a number of fruits and vegetables for local consumption. Bananas, pineapples, mangoes and root vegetables such as cassava are grown all over the island. We saw locals selling their produce by the side of the road. Our property even had a banana tree on it, and our hosts shared bananas and mangoes upon our arrival.
I was interested to see how plastics were being managed on the island. There were signs advising people to carry reusable bags and I was pleased to see a number of people carrying reusable grocery bags. While the tap water is drinkable, it was disappointing to see a lot of people with bottled water. That being said, the water is purified in St Lucia by a Caribbean bottling company , Blue Waters, which offers employment to the local people:
https://www.bluewaterstt.com/Services/Distribution
When we went for a hike to local landmark “Gros Piton”, I carried water from our apartment in reusable water bottles in my backpack:
The hike up Gros Piton offered some stunning views:
After our hike, we stopped to cool off and enjoy the beach. Unfortunately, I found lots of plastic materials and garbage near the beach:
This is a reminder that we need to protect our beaches from this plastic waste. It is an uphill battle.
Our boat guide mentioned that they noticed that the weather was changing and storms were becoming much rougher, leading to damaged boats and docks. He also mentioned that he thought that the locals needed to manage their waste better to avoid the accumulation of plastic and garbage in the water.
On the plus side, in a poor country like St-Lucia, ingenuity is a necessity. I noticed that they had a rain water collection system near the restrooms at the start of the hike:
Our friends who did a lot of snorkeling in the area mentioned that they did see some plastic garbage in the water. But overall, there were lots of colorful fish in the water and the water was clear.
Even though St Lucia is not a rich country, I felt that there was a willingness to be more thoughtful about waste. Our favorite coffee shop, Cafe Ole, sold reusable coffee cups:
In addition, our requests for straw free cocktails were generally respected.
One time my daughter did get a straw but she was tickled pink to tell me that it was paper.
We also enjoyed the local fish fry night. Locals prepared various Caribbean dishes: fried fish, jerk chicken, rice and peas, mac and cheese. It was a fun atmosphere but definitely not zero waste.
We decided to just get chicken skewers and local Piton beer to go. Almost zero waste!
When there is so much poverty in a country, it is difficult for the locals to think about waste management, however, I am hopeful that the St Luchans will continue to take care of their beautiful island paradise. A beach full of plastic waste would certainly not be much fun to visit and I believe people understand that.
Challenge for the Week: How do you travel to reduce your environmental impact? Do you have any good ideas to share?