(according to Julia)

Plastic is a topic both thrilling and scary to me. Yes, in every design book – in history overall – who can imagine the ‘60s without the plastic revolution, the exciting furniture designs. A proper new era. Plastic revolutionized the way we see, manufacture and use products, and in an instant, it comes naturally (and the dreams of the designers and material researchers back then, came true) to see us today surrounded by plastic in every step of our lives.

Yes, surrounded everywhere. Every time. And I think this is where the twist pops up, and just like in a Netflix show you realize the good guy is actually the bad guy. What happens with the bad guy now?

According to a report from the Guardian, an estimated 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s — that’s equivalent to the weight of more than 800,000 Eiffel Towers. And only 9% of it has been recycled. Today, at least 8 million tons of plastics enter the oceans each year. That’s similar to emptying a garbage truck of plastic into an ocean every minute. According to National Geographic, 73% of all beach litter is plastic. The litter includes filters from cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, and polystyrene containers.

With plastic waste practically floating from every side, we at Kikiliciouss have decided to be more aware on this problem starting from 2019 and try to help everyone understand the issue and join us in our aim to have (as much as we can) a more plastic-less life.

*We know the secret in actually fulfilling resolutions is separating them in many tasks and tackling each one by one, therefore we are starting with a plastic-less approach more than a plastic-free, which would be ideal (and we aim to achieve), but a bit difficult at the moment, in our context.

So, to help you lead a plastic-less life, we have compiled a list of 6 most important actions which we are taking and we hope you do too.

• Saying goodbye to plastic straws

We love animals and we want them to have a happy life in clean oceans, or if that is not so doable by now, we at least want them to have clear nostrils to breathe through. I know the video of the sea turtle with the straw stuck up its nose might be too harsh for some people to view, but please do even though you will be hunted by that memory every time you see a straw again.

At home and at Kikiliciouss we somehow have never been such great fans of straws. Cocktails are the only straw-needing drink that comes to my mind so even though I do not intend to say goodbye to cocktails, we can surely opt for reusable straws of even no straws at all. I would love it if bars could start using stainless steel straws, they are practical, reusable, a good-looking item and environmentally-friendly. That’s checking all the boxes for me!

• Avoiding plastic bags and going for the reusable ones instead

The thing is, in Albania most vendors almost force a plastic bag upon purchase, even though the item might be so small you can put it straight in your hand bag. But I am glad to see so many people starting to opt for the reusable bags, going back to the tote bag and we salute stores which have added a purchase value to plastic bags and do not hand them out for free. It might be such a simple question “Will you be needing a plastic bag?”, but it is a moment of deciding where you stand in the war against plastic.

To be honest I am not saying no always to that question, sometimes I just need a plastic bag (especially when forgetting to take with me my tote bag), but what I like about the culture in Albania is that we actually always reuse plastic bags. At my house (like in any other house, I bet) we store plastic bags and then use them to put the rubbish in. I think that is a somewhat decent thing to do, since the bag is already there and we cannot undo it being produced.

Would it be nicer if less plastic bags were produced from now on though? Yes!

• We might not have a working recycling system, but we recycle in-house

I liked doing the rubbish sorting thing when I lived in Paris, it gave me a satisfaction to know I was contributing to the system. But as we do not have a proper system yet in Albania and I can see the rubbish truck store everything together when collecting the waste, I have given up on sorting and we all put all the waste in one bin.

BUT, we do recycle a lot at home, especially plastic containers. With so much cooking and baking happening, we end up with dozens of plastic containers a week, so we just put them back to work after emptying them. Yes, it sometimes becomes ridiculous trying to find the Philadelphia container filled with actual Philadelphia cheese and not jam, shredded carrots or berries pure, but in the end, we are satisfied to use these products for as long as they are good to use and not just make a big pile in the rubbish bin.

This is another thing we are sure many households practice in their kitchens, and we are happy to know that recycling actually has a working system in our homes.

• Embracing glass containers

We already have a ton of Tupperware in our kitchens, so since they have been produced and bought it seems only fair to keep them in use, instead of throwing them away (they will just add up to the rest of the plastic waste anyway).

That being said, it would be good to make other purchases from now on, like switching to containers made of glass (or other sustainable materials). Glass is actually cleaner and more sanitary than plastic, although it costs more and if you plan on taking meals to go, they will weight a little bit more. Remember it is for a good cause though!

As I like the idea of recycling, with glass containers as well is so easy to do so. There is so much food we buy in glass jars, like jams, olives, dips etc. These jars just need a good scrub and they are ready to start a new life.

• Plastic water bottles

When possible, just ditch the plastic bottle and opt for a reusable water bottle. Yet again, due to our water system, where we mostly just buy all the water we drink, a wise approach can be buying water in big containers and then just having a glass or stainless-steel water bottle with us. Another thing I miss from Paris is being able to fill my bottle anywhere, but I am hopeful that soon something will be done with the drinking water system so it can be accessible everywhere.

• Switching to bamboo toothbrush

Plastic toothbrushes are made from a mix of plastic materials that combines elements of rubber, crude oil as well as some extra plastic and cardboard that goes into their packaging. Over 99% of the toothbrushes the world uses are plastic. The kind of plastic that’s not recycled, and which ends up in either landfills or the ocean and never breaks down. Therefor I have decided to turn to bamboo toothbrushes. Bamboo is the ultimate sustainable material, it grows almost 60 cms a day, and being a grass it’s completely biodegradable and compostable. I am already feeling those sparks of joy!