The Three R’s - Number 1 REDUCE

You have most likely heard the saying ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and do you know that they are in order of importance and priority?

We will start with the first and most important; Reduce.

As Koh Phangan is such a beautiful island with over 60% of the land being protected it is important that we are aware and take good care of the nature.

So the first thing you really need to focus on to become environmentally responsible is to reduce the amount of waste you have or leave. Try to never use ‘one use’ items such as plastic straws, plastic cutlery etc and packaging is a nightmare when it comes to waste so try to reduce the amount of things you buy which are packaged.

Beware of take away boxes, you can instead get yourself something that you can wash and take to restaurants and request they put your food in the refillable container so you don’t get given lots of polystyrene boxes.

Get yourself a bag which you can take shopping with you so that you don’t have to use plastic bags, in this consumerist world it can be hard at first but try not to buy things you don’t need.

Now, you do need to consume as much water as you can here on hot Phangan but try to get a refillable bottle rather than buying bottled water all the time. You can buy 20 litre bottles for your home or speak to the staff at your hostel or resort to see if they have a different solution to the small water bottles.

This next one only applies to the lovely females and may be a sensitive subject for some but it is important, periods. Get yourself a Moon/Menstrual Cup, it will last you years rather than just a few hours like tampons or sanitary towels and we have never heard of any girl not liking it once they’ve tried it!

Try to shake off the feeling of wanting to buy things all the time, just enjoy your trip to the island for what it is. You probably bought a new wardrobe especially for the trip so why buy more clothes when you are here? Be more conscious if you do want something, think about it a bit more and whether the purchase will actually bring anything into your life. Your experiences and memories of this beautiful island will stay with you forever and if we want Koh Phangan to remain beautiful then we need to Reduce the amount of waste that is created here.

These are just a few ideas to help you reduce the amount of waste you use and create, next time we will write about REUSING things.