Plastics on the go - Part 1

As I travel around SE Asia, I'm always finding things that would be good to write about but much of the time they wouldn't fill a whole blog post. So these 'on the go' posts will be a bunch of short pieces and photos that highlight some of the small things I come across in my day to day life out here.

Diving

After Bangkok, my first stop was Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand, famous for its abundance of dive schools and a place where many people travel to in order to complete their PADI scuba diving qualification, including me! After the theory lessons on the first day, we got straight into the water and it became very apparent very quickly how bad things were in and around the corals as we'd constantly be collecting bits that had bioaccumulated (organisms that have started growing on them, making them dense and sink to the bottom - more info on this process in this previous post).

Diving was an incredible experience and nothing like I had ever imagined. As you float in this constantly moving environment, you pass through countless bits of plankton, just loads of small ash-like particles in suspension (like the upside down world in Stranger Things) moving with the current. But within this mixture of suspended particles was something that looked a bit out of place. It was a bit of plastic from one of those industrial plastic bags used to transport things like rice. It was the perfect size to be eaten by a passing animal.

I just wanna swim

I arrived at the dive school one morning quite early so chose to go for a swim in the idiliic waters.

As I got into the crystal clear water (which was like a warm bath) I saw one piece of plastic floating on the surface so I went over to pick up and put in my pocket. As soon as I picked it up, another one came into sight. This went on and on, but I didn't need to worry about my pockets getting full because I found a plastic bag to keep everything in! Once that was nearing its limit, I found a second. I've heard the ocean provides but this was a bit much. When I reached the shore I layed all these bits out and got a photo.

Instead of a fresh morning swim, I ended up doing three runs before the diving started and collected all sorts, including a bag with a brand new looking t-shirt and shirt, a nappy (I didn't check if it had been used but I can only assume), a wrapper with a sell-by date of 2014 then all of your classic straws, milkshake tops, plastic cutlery etc. This effort seemed a bit fruitless though. Every time I turned back to look out at the water, it was as if I hadn't even done anything, although something is better than nothing and maybe I've prolonged the life of one creature, you never know.

Eco Travelers

We'll end on a positive so you're not left feeling too depressed. After Koh Tao I decided to spend a few nights in Koh Samui. I noticed this guy (Frank) drinking from a bottle from LifeStraw. If you don't remember what Life Straw is (and how incredible it is!) then check out my previous post on it. Frank used to serve in the U.S. Army and said they were given this bottle by LifeStraw to trial out in the field. One filter can last 4000 litres and the bottles look pretty cool. To check out all the specs and what exactly it can filter out, check out their product page here.

Unfortunately (or I guess fortunately), Frank hadn't found much use for his LifeStraw on this trip because most hostels had water dispensers, but it was really cool to meet another environmentally conscious traveler. In fact, many of the travelers I met were environmentaly conscious, something which can be quite difficult when you're surrounded by so much waste as you may think 'why bother?'.

I'll continue to mix up normal posts with these 'on the go' ones so make sure to subscribe!!