Feel Good Travels.net

Travel and feel good while you're doing it!

You are here: Home / Travel / Packing / Accessories / Reducing Waste While Traveling

Reducing Waste While Traveling

Accessories, Advice For Traveling, Packing, Travel / by / 1,963 Comments

Traveling can be very wasteful, from the tiny soaps and toiletries in hotel rooms, to the constant consumption of plastic bottles, snacks wrapped in plastic, plastic bags, paper napkins and disposable cutlery. It’s easy to want to grab the most convenient items when traveling, but we can’t forget about our beautiful planet, and trying to reduce our impact, even while traveling. Imagine traveling a planet that we destroyed because we were to lazy or careless to look after properly…

Just a few of the things I bring traveling with me to reduce my waste while on the road! A bag, reusable “ziplocks” a water bottle, metal straws and a coffee/tea mug.

Being “green” doesn’t have to be life changing, it just means making small conscious choices whenever possible to reduce/reuse/recycle. Below is a quick and easy list of choices you can make while traveling to reduce your impact on the earth and reduce your garbage production!

1.Water bottle! Bring your own bottle with you! It seems like something so simple, but you can bring your own water bottle with you and refill it throughout the day. Doing this think of all the single use bottles that you are keeping out of a landfill! It’s not just water, either, it’s sodas, juices, any kind of single-serve beverage that you drink and then dispose of the bottle. By bringing your own bottle, over time you are saving 100s of bottles! Also, BONUS! Water is healthier than all those sugary drinks anyways!

I always have at least one water bottle while traveling. This one is a Sip by S’well and I love the pattern! The coffee cup is a simple tumbler mug by Yeti.

2. Coffee cups. This one is similar to water bottles, but how many coffee cups do you go through, especially when traveling? You don’t have the convenience of being at home and making your own, so why not grab one on the go? Well all those cups add up! Bringing your own refillable one to the coffee shop with you means you can still get a coffee on the go, but not waste the cups! PRO TIP: You can also get a metal thermos that can double as a water bottle so you don’t have to carry a separate cup and water bottle, which takes up space when you’re traveling.

3. Plastic bags/Shopping bags. Grab a small reusable bag that you can stuff in a pocket of your bag and bring with you for extra storage no matter where you go. Whether you use it to grab items at a store, the local farmers market, or even if you’ve overpacked your suitcase and need a last minute extra space, the uses for a reusable bag are endless, and it saves the earth from unnecessary plastic and waste! Another bag to consider is your TSA approved ziplock bag, could you use a reusable bag? Or at least use your ziplock multiple times instead of throwing it away as soon as you’re in the hotel, and then needing a new one to get back home?

In the first photo you probably saw the canvas bag that travels with me, this bag is also great as it is a resealable/reusable zip lock for snacks, it also doubles as a way to waterproof your phone if you are near water at all!

4. BYOT. Bring your own toiletries! Yes the hotel ones feel like a fun little luxury, but they are also wasteful! Get a few refillable travel sized squeezy bottles and fill them up at home. Even look at disposable razors, toothbrushes, etc. there are many areas within toiletries that are wasteful. An added bonus is that you don’t need to worry about reactions to new products either, because you will be using all your products that you usually do. LADIES! One toiletry to consider, whether traveling or not, is tampons and pads, and how much garbage these create! Consider switching to a menstrual cup (honestly the best decision I ever made a few years back), it is reusable, and actually more comfortable than “traditional” methods.

5. Stop printing itineraries and boarding passes! Nowadays you can have everything on your phone! Unless a ticket or pass specifically says that it needs to be printed, save the paper and don’t! You can scan your phone for boarding passes, event tickets, keep a copy of your itineraries, access emails, etc. There is really no need to print everything out and waste all the paper (think of the trees!). The only thing I do suggest to print would be a photocopy of your passport and I.D. that you leave somewhere safe while traveling, for just in case.

There are lots of little ways that we can all be better about our waste production, and again, they aren’t life altering changes. It all starts with just a few better choices to start making a difference. How do you try and reduce your impact when traveling? Do you find it difficult when you are on the go? Let us know in the comments below!

x Megan

Reader Interactions

Comments

  42. Oh my goodness! an incredible article dude. Thank you Nonetheless I’m experiencing subject with ur rss . Don抰 know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone getting similar rss drawback? Anyone who knows kindly respond. Thnkx

    Reply

  84. I抦 impressed, I need to say. Really rarely do I encounter a weblog that抯 each educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you will have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the difficulty is something that not sufficient people are speaking intelligently about. I am very completely satisfied that I stumbled across this in my seek for one thing relating to this.

    Reply

  388. School Supplies
    EVA Foam
    Simple Paper Cutting Art
    Paper Crafts For Adults
    Электрический винтовой пресс с ЧПУ с длинным ползунком серии EPC
    Электрический винтовой пресс с длинным ползунком серии EPA и прямым приводом
    Электрический винтовой пресс с ЧПУ серии EP с круглым рельсом
    Paper Crown Craft
    Автоматическая линия по производству ковки
    hantik.ee
    Электрический винтовой пресс с прямым приводом серии EPD с круглым рельсом

    Reply

  657. Vous pouvez utiliser un logiciel de gestion des parents pour guider et surveiller le comportement des enfants sur Internet. Avec l’aide des 10 logiciels de gestion parentale les plus intelligents suivants, vous pouvez suivre l’historique des appels de votre enfant, l’historique de navigation, l’accès au contenu dangereux, les applications qu’il installe, etc.

    Reply

  692. urveillez votre téléphone de n’importe où et voyez ce qui se passe sur le téléphone cible. Vous serez en mesure de surveiller et de stocker des journaux d’appels, des messages, des activités sociales, des images, des vidéos, WhatsApp et plus. Surveillance en temps réel des téléphones, aucune connaissance technique n’est requise, aucune racine n’est requise. https://www.mycellspy.com/fr/tutorials/

    Reply

  1348. When I originally commented I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added-
    checkbox and from now on each time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the same comment.
    Perhaps there is a way you can remove me from that service?
    Thank you! I saw similar here: Sklep internetowy

    Reply

  1384. Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search
    Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog
    to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success.

    If you know of any please share. Many thanks! You can read similar art here: Ecommerce

    Reply

  1558. Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with
    Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my site to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good
    success. If you know of any please share. Appreciate it!
    You can read similar text here: Scrapebox AA List

    Reply

  1758. Wow, marvelous blog layout! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
    you make running a blog look easy. The overall look of your site
    is fantastic, as well as the content material!
    You can see similar here dobry sklep

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *