Hey there #yugencommunity - we're back with our second feature for International Women’s Week 2020! #eachforequal
Today's post features Anella Balchan, founder of Project Blue (@projectbluett on Instagram) - an initiative focused on cleaning the bodies of water in Trinidad and Tobago.
Project Blue started when Anella and her close friends started cleaning up rivers, hiking trails, and beaches. She then started to share content on Instagram with the aim of showing people the destruction that plastic waste has caused and inciting change.
She also started to live a low waste lifestyle; cutting out plastic and investing in bulk purchasing and sustainable products. However, this was not enough - as it was still difficult to find plastic-free products locally.
She said "Basic skin care and hair care is always packaged in plastic bottles and maybe lasts up to a few weeks, then it’s off to a landfill. With zero waste hygiene products, there’s no pollution and it’s much healthier than store-bought products".
This led to the birth of the Greenside Movement (@thegreenside.movement on Instagram, aimed and providing high-quality, organic, zero-waste products such as lotion bars, deodorant bars, shampoo bars and conditioning bars to anyone who wants to make a difference.
The process of developing her products consisted of long research hours and the trial testing of various recipes until her concoctions were finalised. After this, connections were made with local farmers to supply coconut oil and goat's milk and all other ingredients are currently purchased from a small, family-owned, organic, zero-waste shop in Miami.
While her products have done well, and she is happy that some persons are trying to switch out their plastic packaged products, Anella shares that she does not think that most Caribbean people value it and makes the case that "considering Caribbean islands are the biggest plastic polluters per capita in the world, we really should start making an active effort to change our purchasing habits".
Anella also believes that we need to stop seeing sustainability at just face value, saying that many people "think it’s by not littering and properly disposing garbage and yes those things do count but after decades of destruction, we all can and should do more".
In the future, Anella hopes to do local markets and get the zero waste movement and message out there so more people would know about their options. She would also love to do more beach clean-ups under Project Blue.
Anyone interested in contacting her can feel free to call or Whatsapp her at 868-286-6041.
Enjoyed today's feature? Make sure to let us know by liking this post and commenting below! Also, don't forget to check back on Saturday for our last #womenandsustainbility feature!
- Jamala A.
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