Eliminate Waste – Refuse
Eliminate Waste – Refuse
Using the 5R Principles; Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot, for suggestions on how to eliminate your waste when travelling, Refuse is the initial stage and most important contributor to eliminate waste.
Unnecessary Food; it’s easier when on a trip to purchase a larger meal than you would normally eat at home, or load up your breakfast plate at the hotel buffet breakfast. Instead, be aware of the amount of food you purchase that you intend to eat, versus the amount that will be going to waste and most likely to landfill. Remember in most cases you can always buy more food later or go back for the second plate once the first is finished.
Bottled Water: where practical in certain destinations, aim to avoid purchasing individual single use small bottled water where tap water is suitable for drinking purchases. Instead refill your water bottle daily with either safe tap water, or filtered water from your accommodation property.
Single Use Toiletries; avoid using single size small hotel toiletries, instead pack a bar of soap (less chance of leaking than liquid soap too!), and pack your own shampoo and creams in reusable/refillable bottles.
Reduce Luggage: it’s easy to overpack when traveling, yet how many times have you packed items that were never used when away? The more often you travel, the higher chance you have of better understanding your luggage needs. Instead of packing 10 tops, reduce to 5 tops that are versatile for day wear as well as evening wear, can be be dressed up or dressed down according to the activity/location. Increase luggage adds to the plane weight (carbon emissions), whilst also additional weight for your carry and transport when transiting at destinations.
Single use Plastic Bag: it can be easy to accept a shopping bag when traveling, yet to reduce this need to carry your purchased items, try to pack lightweight durable shopping bags that can easily be folded up into small pouch. These lightweight bags are thin and generally don’t take up any room in your luggage, and are versatile for food shopping and day trips to beach for your beach towel.
Single Use Plastic Cutlery; at some food vendors you’re handed single use disposable cutlery and chopsticks, which generally directly go to landfill. To avoid this, purchase some reusable cutlery that you can easily pack in your day pack when exploring, that can easily be rinsed off with water and used at the next meal.
Trip Paperwork: only print off the essentials you need for your trip, otherwise store your information on your phone or take photos of the relevant documents. Understandable though it’s good to have paper copies of identification for security purposes should you need to replace them and you don’t have access to your phone.
Luggage Tags: purchase yourself a sturdy leather luggage tag, then you can resume for every trip, that way eliminating the need for airline’s paper disposable luggage tag for every trip.
Individually Packed Food; the more we opt for convenience food these days, the more food items are individually wrapped. Where possible try purchasing snacks from supermarkets in larger packs, and then repack them in ziplock bags for day use. You can do this for cut fruit, trail mix, biscuits, protein bars, etc. They are extremely light and fit flat in your luggage, which is a bonus.
What part can you play when travelling to reduce or even better eliminate waste?
