I fell in love with gardening (again*) after a whirlwind chapter of living in Hong Kong. It all started on a trashy beach; I was overwhelmed my the immense amount of litter marring my local beach and became passionate about recycling.
Upon researching recycling practices, I found that very little recyclable materials actually gets recycled properly. The documentary, Plastic China, exposed that there are cities in China that “process” plastic recycling is a very uncontrolled manner resulting in a life expectancy in the late 30s to early 40s. Overwhelmed by the amount of recyclable products coming from the west, China closed its borders to recycling in 2018. (It’s now being sent to Southeast Asia #notinmybackyard).
Oh but it can and should be addressed on a local level. This lead me to a venture of a Dutch entrepreneur whose aim is just that and provides the literal blueprints to do just that through his movement, Precious plastic. While I would love to pursue that someday and have visited precious plastic facilities, i thought… Why not just eliminate packaging to the best of my ability? I shifted my focus to eliminating packaging by buying bulk and using reusable containers, and visited the bulk food store regularly.
Another way I tried to reduce waste is buying local good and produce. Then… I thought… why not try my hand at growing what I can and go back to the garden!
*my mom is and avid flower grower… a proverbial Lupine Lady of the southwest; scattering Penstimmon Perry in all corners of her property and even the wash!