On Honeymoon: Newly Weds Discover Anti-Plastic Life Style

While on our honeymoon in the Maldives, my husband and I were appalled by the amount of plastic filling up oceans, and spent movie nights on the beach watching docs about how we’re hurting sea life.

One day, we asked staff if we could volunteer to help pick up litter in the sea. They were happily surprised at our request, saying they had already done their cleanup of the week and canceled public cleanups, as honeymooners and vacationers don’t normally wish to spend their time on the islands picking up waste. But a staff member tagged along with us anyway, handed us gloves and trash bags, and we snorkeled into the sea. We easily collected three bags full of waste, from soda cans stuck on dying corals to plastic bottles dug in the sand.

In awe at what we’re doing to our ecosystem, we chose to transition to a more zero-waste lifestyle back home in Barcelona. It was a lot easier to be kinder to our planet than we thought: one year and three months later, we barely filled a 30L garbage bag!