We spent our third night in Sicily on a Camping site in the westernmost suburb of Palermo, the next morning we did some shopping on the local market. I try hard to maximize reuse of all wrapping, which is of course much easier when you have all your belongings with you than in normal life. It has also led to interesting discussions in several places the two extremes happened today...

 

Some supermarkets especially in Spain did not allow us to buy loose fruits or vegetables without or with our own bags, but usually most vendors accept, in Genua I was asked where I'm from and upon hearing Germania, they understood... Today, when I wanted to buy mandarins from a large pile in the street market, the vendor insisted I had to use a plastic bag and that he would pay me an Euro to do so. I desisted, it would have been a bad deal for him as well as I wanted half a kilo (and the kilo price was 80 cents)....Other vendors had less problems so I got my mandarins without plastic. I then went into a bakery where a middle aged woman was rather enraged repeatedly accusing the poor baker of I was not entirely sure what, in any case she refused the offered bread and insisted on a different one. When I than handed the baker my paper bag with which I have been buying bread since France (whenever I was fast enough and bread was not prepackaged..) he asked me whether I was from the States. Inspite of this being the case, I replied no  from Germany. He then told me the story of his trip to Washington state, where he had met a woman, who also used the packaging until they fell to pieces and that this was actually a good idea, and that the fuss I had just witnessed was because the lady refused bread wrapped in paper but wanted it in a plastified paper bag. He then sold me 4 cantuccini in my respective bag and gave me another as a present... 

 

I realize Sicily has more pressing needs but waste management is a serious problem... inspite of different containers to separate waste, they usually contain a wild mix of everything, and as the lids are left open and it does rain at this time of the year quite an unpleasant mixture. Still the best case seems to be that it ends in some container at all. Unfortunately an amazing amount ends up in the landscape.