There are some really simple steps to becoming a sustainable traveller. Sadly our desire to see the world, do all the things, eat the things and generally be amazing human beings does come at a cost to the planet. One that is avoidable to a certain extent if we’re willing to make a few simple changes to our basic behaviours.
No, you don’t need to turn yourself into a tree hugging, no shaved armpit hippy swimming in your own self-pride and newly founded vegan status. Then again no judgement here if that’s your thing. You do you.
Why Go Sustainable?
What does it even mean? Be a more sustainable traveller? Financially? Emotionally? Environmentally? Well, today in honour of Plastic Free July we’re going to look more into the environmental impacts that we can actively reduce whilst on the road. Hopefully, you’ll see that these small steps make sense financially and give you great emotional satisfaction. These really are the low hanging fruit that I can’t see anyone having any great hurdles to jump over to make a change.
Plastic. It’s a huge issue. Travelling around South East Asia it’s so tempting to buy all the things in the teeny tiny plastic bags. With little to no thought on the creation and disposal of these bags. I’ve done. It’s uber cute drinking juice from a plastic bag, with a plastic straw whilst Snapchatting. These plastic bottles, bags and takeaway containers that we use just for a few minutes use a material that is designed to last forever. The current data suggests that by 2050 if we continue on the same path that there will be more tonnes of plastic then free in the ocean!
Hydrate Yourself With A Sustainable Water Bottle
Keeping hydrated whilst on the road is oh so very important to your health. Dehydration, even when you’re healthy, is rather uncomfortable and undesirable. Now it can be difficult, especially when you have long bus rides and aren’t sure about the toilet situation. As a lady you don’t want to suffer from dehydration and a UTI.
More often than not it’s tempting to grab a cold bottle of water from a vendor, drink and flick it away. We regularly carry wide mouthed reusable bottles and a Steripen just in case we’re not 100% sure of the water quality and safety.
Fun facts about water & plastic water bottles:
2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water.
In the US, 1,500 water bottles are consumed every second.
Plastic bottle tops are not recyclable – causing damage to our wild life.
In many developed countries, plastic water bottles are not recycled. Due to mixed plastics, lack of recycling facilities and community actions.
Here’s 3 amazingly stylish and affordable water bottles that are perfect for travel.
Hydro Flask 32 oz Water Bottle | Stainless Steel & Vacuum Insulated | Wide Mouth with Leak Proof Flex Cap
Nalgene Tritan On The Fly Water Bottle, Smoke W/ Grey Cap, 24Oz
CamelBak Eddy Water Bottle, Dragon Fruit, .75-Liter
The main things I look for when choosing a water bottle are wide mouth for easy cleaning. A cap or a straw that folds down. A lot of people have nozzled bottles, which are great and easy to access but also capture a lot of street grime and can cause health issues.
Coffee Cup of Happiness
There’s such a simple pleasure of a cup of hot coffee in the morning. Or afternoon. Late in the evening. Coffee is life! What’s not great? Ah the 500 billion – yes billion – disposable coffee cups are produced globally each year. We could go into more detail about the lining in these cups and how much energy they take to make. If you do want more information on than the Story of Stuff is where you want to go to learn more. Since 2009 we’ve been travelling with a KeepCup and have recently upgraded to a R2CUP for at home transit. Along the way these cups have served us well carrying hot coffee, keeping it hot and actively saving us money. Many cafes offer a small discount when we BYO. To date both my cups have paid for themselves with in café discounts.
Three stylish and functional reusable coffee cups that you should buy today.
YETI Rambler 20 oz Insulated Tumbler w/MagSlider Lid, Seafoam
KeepCup Changemakers Hydro 8Oz Travel Mug
Hydro Flask 12 oz Travel Coffee Flask
These coffee cups also double up as perfect wine & beer tumblers for when you’re on the road.
What’s That In Your Travel Wardrobe?
Clothing is a necessity in most parts of the world. Unless your off in Norway doing a naked hike. In which case enjoy your hike and remember to put on some clothing once you’re done. Clothing and more importantly fast fashion has a huge environmental impact. From the making of your clothing all the way down to how you wash your fine wear.
For a little bit of luxury on the road we’re huge fans of Boody. Sustainable bamboo clothing that’s comfortable, easy to wash and feels nice on your booty. The range is basic but brilliant. These undies have become a favourite staple in my hiking wardrobe. Soft, smooth and don’t heat up your precious lady bits. Ain’t no body got time for a hot booty whilst off on a hike.
Buy your booty a Boody gift today with 10% off your first order
Fresh Is Best
Being a female traveller there are a few additional things to think about. Getting your period on the road can be a right pain in the uterus. Especially when things get moving when you’re not ready. It’s not always easy to find lady products on the road. ModiBodi are the original period panties. Terrible use of the word panty but a seriously great product. Even just for those long flights or over night buses. Cause we all know that fresh is best. ModiBodi uses modifier air technology which draws sweat and discharge away from the source and fights bacteria to keep you fresh as a daisy, all day.
Keepin’ All Your Delicates Travel Clothing Super Clean
Having amazing active wear and delicates is the first step to a sustainable wardrobe. The next and way less glamorous is the washing of beautiful wear. The Allurette washer is the easiest way to gently and effectively clean hand-wash only clothing. Compact, portable and only 112g its perfect for ladies who like to travel. The Allurette is so easy to use. It features a flexible internal washboard and with a few minutes of gentle massaging provides you with a machine worthy wash. All without trying to find a laundry matt. We’ve used our Allurette bag on recent hikes. It’s been great for storing dirty laundry until we get a day to do the all important washing.
But wait there’s a lot more to being a sustainable traveller.
Isn’t there always more that we can be doing? Of course, there is. Personal hygiene items – like face wash, deodorant and sunscreen. The additional chemicals in these products are wrecking havoc on the oceans and bee populations. Remember folks there is no Planet B!
And always BYO shopping bag. Do you really need more plastic bags from shopping? Ah no you do not and quite a few countries have recently banned the plastic bag, so you can’t even get one if you wanted one.
Being a sustainable and responsible traveller starts with the things that we take with us and flows onto the ways in which we act in the communities that we travel through. You don’t need to throw your life away and become an eco-warrior right away.
By making consistent, small steps we can all make a huge difference to this planet that we call home.
If you are a travel content creator and would like to join a community of like minded eco-friendly & responsible travellers why not check out the Impact Travel Alliance
Jeanette
Founder, Principal Blogger & Coffee Drinker
Coffee Lover | Travel Blogger | Horse Rider | Adventure Racer | Donut Dame. Generally nice lady-enjoys wine, indie movies & random dance parties in my tent.
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Great tips! These are all really accessible steps to make towards a greener lifestyle. Every little thing counts 🙂
I love that you brought this up!
You really have me interested in these ModiBodi underwear 🙂 *excuse me while I go see if they ship to the US* Also, lots of other good tips as per usual! Thanks Jean.
I’ve been wondering how to be a more sustainable traveller, thanks for the great tips – it’s really helpful that you also included links to some of the products that can help one become a better sustainable traveller faster.
Great Tips! There are so many simple tips we can use to become more sustainable when we travel! There is simply no excuse to not use a refillable water bottle these days. Such little changes can have such a vital impact on our planet. Thanks for sharing – I’m intrigued about the hand washer – going to have a look at that one for sure!
Alicia
Good to see single-use plastics like straws and plastics being totally phased out especially in tourist areas. Hope this is a right start eliminating ones carbon footprint on their travels.
This are some great tips, i tend to forget when I buy coffee especially.
I am a huge fan of sustainable tourism and as a long time traveler i feel we have a big responsibility towards traveling right. I try my best not to carry too much luggage with me. Eat fresh and volunteer in community programs. Thanks for posting this.
Traveling and polluting the environment is what every traveler should say NO to. A clean environmemt is what draws everyone to traveling. And what more resuables not only make the environment clean but also helps to save cost. Thanks for these tips.
The water one is such a big deal! I haven’t yet found a way to sort out cold water unfortunately and in 35 degree Asia room temp is like drinking bath water. I make every other step possible though, especially reusable bags and conscious clothing decisions. Great article 👍
These are fantastic tips. I always check to see how my clothes are made as well as try to avoid buying extra plastic bags! I also try to give back to the communities.
Very interesting read! I learned a lot about this topic. I had to admit I had no idea on how to become a sustainable traveler. Thanks for sharing! Safe travels. – Mariella
Loved the guide! I always pack light and even at home take my refillable cup/mug/bottle to even cafes!
Good stuff Jean. Total minimalist here, not by chance or conscious decision but by the fact I am a true digital nomad. This means I carry little, toss out little and simply do my best to leave a tiny footprint, environmentally. As for my digital footprint that is a different story 🙂 I drink like a fish – water-wise – at home from a glass, pre-hydrating, so rarely buy and use plastic bottles. Green and time efficient way to water up, too.
Great tips and advice to become a sustainable traveller! My tip is to research the places you’re visiting to see what ways you can ensure you’re travelling responsibly there. Like in Venice, there are many ways to try and reduce your impact, for instance stop rolling your bags over the delicate and crumbling bridges. You could also purchase carbon offset for your flights to help reduce your carbon footprint.
I love that more and more countries are getting on board with banning plastic bags, but its true, we must be more self-aware, informed, and take measures on our own to help reduce the amount of waste and pollution we create. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Interesting read! Sustainable travel is something totally new to me but you are right we need to care more for our environment. The most interesting of this list in Modibodi for the period. Are they comfortable?
They certainly are! I love wearing these on travel days. Just to keep things fresh 😀
Really great tips for becoming a more sustainable traveller! I really appreciate the amount of work and detail you put into this post. You gave some awesome advice that anyone can follow. The Allurette washer sounds really awesome, and I am definitely going to look into it!
I wish more travelers would learn to be more sustainable. I can’t say I am the most efficient but it absolutely kills me when I travel to places and it’s full of trash…or people who think that everything in this life is a luxury and doesn’t take care of what they have. Great read!
Sustainable travel and sustainable lifestyle is the way to go if we want to live in planet Earth. To be honest I am absolutely frustrated with the plastic bottles, from the past month me and hubby are thinking of getting a steripen. Period panty sounds like a great help in the icky days.
Some seem so obvious since we are already in 2017, but lots of travelers, travel influencers, and the like don’t have a clue. We ALL could be doing better. We ALL can be doing all the things on this list and more. If I ever don’t have my own container for drink, I ask to drink it in the store without a lid or straw. If I see they serve drinks in store and have plastic to-go, I always opt for the in store drink to avoid the plastic. These help. Even a little bit. I don’t use dryers anymore. Going on 2 years just hanging my clothes up outdoors or in my home in wetter seasons to air dry. 🙂 thanks for the reminder that we can ALL do better
I love the idea of sustainable travel. I bought a water bottle instead of wasting disposable plastic ones. It makes me sick how much plastic is in the ocean… great tips!
The allurette washer sounds so useful, and is something you can use at home and travelling. I’ve never heard of bamboo clothing, but will keep an eye out for it. Totally agree on the plastic bottles in SE Asia; but the people there need to be educated too.
I like that this post highlights the environmental impact of plastics. Tourists and locals alike use too much plastic in Trinidad and Tobago, especially plastic water bottles. I agree that water bottles should be reusable. Plus, your water doesn’t taste funny if it gets left out in the sun!
Perfect guide for people looking for practical advice on becoming more sustainable! 🙂
Very clever article! I admire you trying to get out there how important that disposing incorrectly of plastic items is really really bad for our environment! The numbers in 2050 really is alarming!
Something i use a lot whilst traveling is a water bottle, especially in hot places so I’ll check out the water to go bottles. Clean water can be hard to come by in some parts of the world, often the parts of the world where you can buy your juice in a plastic bag! The keep cup sounds perfect for coffee which I drink a lot of these days!
I have to admit I didn’t know what it meant to be a sustainable traveler, I felt like it was one of those buzzwords that everyone says. Now I have some actionable items 😀
Start small and see where it takes you! We’ve saved a lot of money over the years travelling with these small sustainable items
Great post! I have such an issue with plastic water bottles. We always carry our Kleen Kanteens when we travel. And yes, plastic bags are such a huge issue. Here in CA, they banned them and you can no longer get one when you shop, which is awesome!
Thank goodness for the disclaimer! I have to admit that’s always the image I get when I hear sustainable traveler lol. But in all seriousness I try to do my best to help out–reusing linens and towels and carrying a refillable water bottle are great ways to start!
We can definitely do more to be sustainable. This year, I am committing to avoiding the straw. I forgot to tell the waitress at the diner the other day and she brought my drink with the straw already in it. Rats. It is tough to remember something like this, but think how much plastic we’d save if we all cut even 50% of our straw use. The other thing to consider is that there are biodegradable plastics out there. Why aren’t we making more?
I did read that the energy needed to produce these is quite a lot. Almost making it non beneficial
😳 but small steps turn into big steps!
Thanks for this article! Many people do not realize the impact that tourists have on the environment. Something as simple as a reusable water bottle makes such a difference!
Great article! It’s so important to try to be environmentally friendly because how can we travel and see more of the world if we are destroying it. Little lifestyle changes can help. In California, you have to pay for plastic bags when grocery shopping. It’s only about 10 cents if you forget but it’s nice to see people bringing their own cloth bags and being more conscious about their environment
On a recent trip to Nepal, I found that they have pretty much banned all plastic bags. Everything I bought was presented in a woven bag that can be reused over and over. Australia needs to catch up! Thanks for your wisdom. Mel
Great article. I hadn’t heard about these it’s before