10 Things We Can Do To Sustain Our Beautiful Island
We truly believe that being more environmentally conscious is a chain reaction. If you take just one small action a day to sustain our beaches whilst you’re visiting Ibiza, it may be picked up by your friends, as well as other visitors too. Imagine the difference that would make?
Here are 10 changes everyone can make on their next adventure to Ibiza and beyond, that will have a positive environmental effect and help sustain the party isle.
Reduce, reuse, recycle
Ibiza is so small, but year on year we attract more and more visitors. More visitors means more waste. By reducing the amount of rubbish you create, you are literally making an instant, positive impact on the island. Download your travel documents onto your phone so you can go paperless, or bring your own bags for life and re-use them during your food shop.
Get clued up on coloured bins
Yellow bins – Plastics and metals such as straws and beer cans
Green bins – Glass such as wine bottles
Want to be extra eco-friendly? Put your wine top in the yellow bin next door!
Blue bins – Paper and cardboard
Grey bins – General waste that’s a mix of different materials
Throw away your pizza boxes
You may think you’re doing your bit by launching your takeaway box in the recycling bin, but greasy pizza boxes cannot be recycled, opt for the general waste grey bin instead.
Dispose of medication carefully
Have you heard of a punto sigre bin? You can find them at the local chemists, and they’re for disposing of any medication packaging. These have really harmful effects on sea life and humans! Don’t let them end up on the beaches.
Bin your butts!
Cigarette butts have been the single most collected item on the world’s beaches, with a total of more than 60 million collected over that time – which time? Every Thursday the O Beach team host a beach clean along San Antonio Bay and every week more and more cigarette butts are lining our shores. BIN YOUR BUTTS! NO BUTTS!
Feed yourself, not the animals
Bringing a picnic to the beach can seem like a super cute idea, but wildlife don’t have to be in on the date. Our little friends are sharing the beach with you and they don’t need their diets disrupting.
Take home memories, not sealife souvenirs
The White isle is packed with Hippy Markets, but please don’t buy coral jewellery, tortoiseshell hair accessories (made from hawksbill turtles) they contribute to the harming of fragile coral reefs and marine populations on the island.
Take part in our beach clean!
Name a better way to start your day on a positive note. Every Thursday at 11 am we spend over an hour cleaning the local beaches. In return, we offer free entry to our amazing event ON111 along with light refreshments and a goody bag for your efforts. Our beautiful beaches and sea life are quickly taking a turn for the worst. Let’s give something back to the incredible White Isle. We’ll also offer free entry to ON111 if you tag us in a photo of a beach clean you’ve taken part in somewhere else in the world.
Don’t go overboard
We’re not talking about alcohol consumption, we’re talking boat parties and yacht trips and the amount of litter that gets thrown off the side. Even if you think it’s something tiny like a used piece of chewing gum or a cigarette butt. There’s a ripple effect and often the consequence is that those tiny items amass into a large problem for the local ecosystem and white sandy beaches.
Share what you know with your friends
Now you’ve read all our tips, our one last piece of advice is to go and share it with your family and friends. The more educated visitors become about the damage they could cause to our island, the sooner more people will realise that continuing the way we are simply isn’t sustainable.
Even if you can retain and put into fruition just ON111 of these tips, you are already a better and more eco-friendly traveller. You may be thinking, “what difference can one person make?” but if everyone put these into practice we’d have a much more sustainable island. Remember – it’s a chain reaction! Now let’s get to work.
