06/01/2022
Meet Natalie Wohner, waterwoman and materials engineer from Germany; Full Cycle Takeout’s Education and Outreach manager and longtime volunteer.
“Growing up by the shores of the Baltic Sea in North Germany, I always had a special connection to the ocean. My love for the sea and passion for water sports brought me to Hawaiʻi over 10 years ago.
Being raised in Germany I wasn’t particularly aware about the serious plastic pollution crisis. There wasn’t much plastic polluting the beaches, waste diversion in my home is a common thing, drinking out of glass bottles that you can return for a deposit is the standard.
Living in Hawai‘i where we see the world’s trash deposited on our beloved beaches and the insane amount of takeout waste flooding out of trash cans opened my eyes to the waste crisis we are in today.
To minimize my footprint I try to do simple things in my everyday life and started volunteering with the Surfrider Foundation for over a decade now. I cleanup beaches, coordinated the Ocean Friendly Restaurants program, helped pass Honolulu’s ban on disposable plastic foodware, and I am now helping with the Full Cycle Takeout pilot program, which is an exciting and important step for our island’s circular system!
If you want to make a difference, just get started with something easy and take it from there! Here are 5 easy but impactful changes you can start with:
💦 reuse stuff you alredy have over and over again - your reusable water bottle, shopping bags, clothes, your phone! no need to dispose of it every year ;)
🌱 compost your food waste, get two chickens and build a little garden
🍎 buy your groceries without the wrapping and try to get bulk refills as much as you can - just use jars you already have.
🥗 pay attention to your food choices. Buy local as much as you can and minimize your meat and fish consumption.
🏝 volunteer for a non-profit, it’s fun, you learn stuff and make new friends
