Tips for Traveling With Less Plastic
You don't have to sacrifice convenience for sustainability!
Traveling for the holidays can be super stressful… the early flights, long lines, and last-minute delays seem inevitable. Traveling can also be a hidden stressor on the environment; it’s been identified as a significant generator of plastic waste. The convenience of single-use plastic can be tempting, especially with the stress of holiday travel, but even one plastic item can add to the pollution problem. And this problem only seems to be getting worse, since only 10% of plastic is recycled, and around 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans per year (1, 2). Luckily, it’s really easy to limit your plastic consumption while you travel! Here are our tips for traveling with less plastic:
- Bring a reusable water bottle – Traveling can be exhausting and it’s definitely important to stay hydrated, and reusable water bottles are an easy way to cut down on plastic use. Americans purchase roughly 50 billion plastic single-use water bottles per year and only about 20% get recycled (3). Plus, who wants to pay outrageous airport prices for something that can be free!
- Bring your own shampoo – As cute as the tiny shampoos provided by hotels are, these containers require lots of plastic for little shampoo so it’s better for the Earth if you pass them up. Instead, pack your own shampoo! There are great shampoo options with plastic-free packaging. Check out our plastic-free shampoo roundup for inspiration!
- Avoid buying travel-sized toiletries – Once again, although cute, small toothpaste containers, mouthwash bottles, or any other item you can buy in travel size uses way more plastic than necessary and is usually tossed after just a few uses. Bring the larger containers when you can or fill reusable containers with your toiletries from home.
- Say no to plastic bags – Whether this be shopping bags or ziplocs, there are always better alternatives! Your reusable grocery bag can make an excellent souvenir holder and small stainless steel containers are perfect for packing snacks and toiletries!
- Bring your own utensils! – Most plastic straws and cutlery cannot be recycled. Packing a washable utensil set takes up barely any space, and can reduce plastic consumption significantly! Half a million straws are used and thrown away in the world every day (3).
You might be stuck in that airport security line for hours, but you can feel good knowing you’re still doing your part to reduce plastic consumption! One day of convenience doesn’t have to add up to a mountain of plastic waste.
Citations:
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/plastic-pollution/#close
- https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
- https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/