Street Theatre Festival!!

So, for a few days, the capitol of Slovenia was swarmed with jugglers, street performers, circus artists & clowns & such...

(don't ask!;)

... and TRASH!! yikes!

I went there fully prepared. Or so I thought.

Brought with a reusable plastic box with two yummy sandwiches & a cloth serviette & metal fork, & a glass bottle. What else could a girl need?

I told my cousin to bring with a reusable box too, & as much zero waste food as she can.. & to adhere to strict zero waste rules, as to give a good example!

So my gorgeous cousin brought this, & did great on day 2!



My zero waste sandwiches were totally yummy too, but on Day 2, I ran out of them & forgot my reusable container at the hostel - and had to buy... THESE! Yikes!


I quarrelled with the shop lady to give 'em to me in ONE paper bag, but she wouldn't have it! 'Regulations,' she said, & whatnot!
I was too tired and hungry (& there was a queue forming) so I had to take 'em, but I swore to return with my reusable box & demand good service & no trash - or ask for the book of complaints!
(it's paper with foil.. & the foil is.. well, not zero waste, is it?)

Oh & there was a sheep!! :) called Sophy!!

My friend is totally awesome but.. uhm, not so zero waste..
She was bossed into recycling a beer can & bringing back the plastic cups she got us on Day 1..
.. but slipped a Coca Cola can into trash next morning, sigh!!


She had a most gorgeous cloth bag, but left it full of goodies with us to watch, & brought back one of those iffy free plastic bags from the shop!

She also lost my glass bottle! /sigh/

And what do you do if people get baloons for their kiddies? hm!

There was dancing in a public fountain involved, and a foam party.. What can I say? ;)

(& a deep social commentary on the nature of human greed & 'materialism'!)

I tried to make my friends recycle stuff & possibly avoid the plastic bottles, but on Day 3 the plastic water bottles were free (& my friend was convinced the Capitol has bad water?!) so they couldn't stay away from them!!
as if the plastic water bottles had any better water? /sigh/
/of course I was mortified cause I was trying to get some other NGOs to co-operate with the whole zero waste thing - some were even interested!! didn't dare to talk to any more after!! yikes!
There were even some celebrities at the scene, was too shy to talk to them & ask them to take part in our eco Cabaret too - sigh/

My reusable container came handy for the most excellent (spicy!) goulash - cousin however 'wanted her own' cause she was afraid she wouldn't get enough if he put it all in one reusable container! /sigh/ Never argue with a hungry woman!!
(of course that polystyrene foam tray didn't get recycled! /sigh/)



Overall, it was fun! & at least we got the plastic bottles to the recycling bins, which is more than many others did!

I was also shocked at the big amount of many beer & soda cans that ended up in 'ordinary trash'.. (not sure if I dared to photo any of those..? my memory card ran out, so I had to buy a new one - & slower too, yikes! Never buy in a hurry!!- it got stuck in another camera though!)
some bins for organic waste we encountered had really iffy stuff in them too!! (plastic bags the very least, or worse!!)

We were pleasantly surprised with separate recycling bins at the hostel - but they were not labelled clearly so we had to ask what to put where, I'm sure the others didn't bother much!
the color coding is different in every city.. & we don't expect foreign tourists to know our system by colour either, hm?
/it would be great if whole Europe had the same color-coding system!!/



Bye street theatre festival! - hopefully next year the organizers will be persuaded to get separate bins/bags for recyclables too??
Wouldn't it be great??

So, rules for big events:
1. Keep your water bottle firmly in grip! (Yes, even when ordering zero waste ice-cream!!)
2. Keep your friends' recyclables firmly in hand! (or rucksack)
3. Bring a spoon! (even if you think you won't need it!) And reusable container & fork and maybe knife & a napkin. And a cup.
4. Bring extra reusable containers/bento boxes/cups for hungry friends?
5. Have fun, ha ha!! :)

PS I'm not on any of the photos, just my amazing friends - big THANKS for the awesome moments! :) what can I say, I hate being photographed & am rather behind the camera! & don't have all the photos yet, akhem!
Also, for the record - the more risquee photos & vids can be found on YouTube - just kidding!! ;)

Oh, & remember that spicy goulash - I even brought some home in the reusable container & it was a lovely meal too! /eat your heart out, coz!:)/