Cyprus is a beautiful country. There are mountains to ski in the winter, stunning beaches, amazing plants and some extraordinary wildlife. However, Cyprus is a small island and tourism has taken its toll. It is not uncommon to see plastic bags caught up in shrubs, juice containers along roads, cigarette butts scattered in the sand, and plastic water bottles just about everywhere. Trash piles up quickly in waste bins and gets left on streets or beaches to be strewn about in wind gusts or pulled apart by animals. Most waste appears to go directly into the garbage, and I have seen few signs of a recycling or compost system. However, I have come across a few things I would recommend as a visitor to the island that can be done to help keep this wonderful place and the magnificent sea surrounding it cleaner and safer for all its inhabitants. First off, while I have read that the water here is safe to drink from the tap few people choose this option and most opt for small plastic water bottles, and their numbers rack up quickly in the summer heat. If you are planning on visiting Cyprus, I would absolutely recommend bringing your own reusable water bottle. Even if you don’t feel safe drinking from the tap, you can buy a large 10- or 15-liter bottle from most stores or mini marts and refill it at a Mr. Penguin station for something like 6 cents a liter. You then have access to a fresh source of H2O to fill up your own personal bottle which you can bring with you to the beach, out to dinner, or on a site like Vigla. When you are done with your trip and ready to throw out your large water jug, head on down to the beach for a final swim and look for the large metal fish which acts as a recycling bin. Here you can also recycle soda cans or other recyclable containers. My second bit of advice would be to follow the pack-it-in pack-it-out rule, whereby you make sure that anything you bring with you leaves with you. I would absolutely opt for bringing your own reusable bag like a canvas tote which can go everywhere with you and act as a bag for the beach, shopping, picking up groceries, taking clothes to the launder, or something to pick up take away dinners, stuff snacks into and something the carry a spare plastic bag in. The plastic bag is so you have something with you for when you do run into garbage lying about or when you create your own trash and there is not a proper bin around. My last bit of advice would be to take notice of the food you are eating. Maybe instead of grabbing a snack wrapped in plastic something more like an apple that doesn’t come pre-wrapped would do. Also be aware that when you go to the grocery store all produce is bagged to be weighed before purchasing, sometimes you can sneak around this if you are okay with a sticker going right on your sweet potato, but I would also keep my eyes out for some kind of light weight reusable bag, or just reuse the plastics bags you had to snag the first time. When you go out to eat be mindful that meals are usually pretty big, so if you’re not too hungry maybe consider sharing your meal with a friend to produce less food waste… or you could give a stray kitty a few bites of what’s left. I know this is all stuff most of us have heard before, many of us practice regularly at home, and are not always possible to follow through with in a new place, but I do think it is important nonetheless, and all things I wish I would have been more aware of before coming. I think sometimes it is easy to think of a new place as being less of our own responsibility, but in the end, we are still on the same incredible planet. We are guests always. Cyprus is a tiny place and with so many tourists we could really make a difference on the lives of those both living here and visiting by taking care of the ecosystems we interact with.

-Grace Simonsen