Zero waste travel can be challenging, but worth doing for our planet. Travel is full of disposable products — everything from single-serving sizes to inflight meals to takeaway meals.
Here are our 7 Zero Waste Travel Tips To Help Mother Earth
1. Water bottle
Bring your water bottle and forget about buying plastic at the airport. There are many places you can refill at the airport. You can also ask to refill your container inflight rather than using a plastic cup.
RECOMMENDED: The Unpleasant Reality of Plastic Water Bottles at Airports
2. Travel mug
Red-eye flight? Bring your travel mug and ask the flight attendants to fill up your mug with coffee or tea instead of a plastic cup.
3. Cutlery and Tupperware
Planning to eat on the plane? Most plane food is wrapped and served with plastic. Bring your cutlery in your carry-on.
4.Reusable bag
Are you going to make some purchases during a plane delay or pick up a bottle of wine to take to your hotel? Bring a reusable bag – or two – to avoid the need for a plastic bag.
5.Sustainable Snacking
We make our snacks, like Power balls (nut butter, oats, dark chocolate, honey, maple syrup, chia seeds) instead of taking those free pretzel packets. We keep them in Beeswax wraps because they are super lightweight.
Trail mix and roasted chickpeas also make for a great plane snack – we store those in StasherBags or lightweight Tupperware.
RECOMMENDED: Healthy Carry On Food Packs You Can Bring On An Airplane
6. Paperless boarding pass and flight itineraries
We use mobile boarding passes rather than print. A benefit is you no longer need to carry printed copies of travel documents and worry about misplacing or losing them.
We also take screenshots of our hotel and transportation reservations. So that we don’t have to print those either.
7. Bring your straw
With think, bamboo is an excellent lightweight option. Don’t forget to bring a straw cleaner and pouch to keep the straw hygienic throughout the trip. Most importantly, say “no straw please” when ordering a drink. Try reducing your waste by refusing.
Our actions, however small, can have a real impact when combined with thousands of travellers looking to make a difference.
Those are our top seven zero waste travel tips. Have you tried any? Let us know in the comments below.