5 ways to eliminate single-use plastic when you travel

Traveling and going on vacation is a relaxing time. You get to unwind, forget about work, and go carefree from the normal stresses in life. For many people that means eating out every meal so there isn’t grocery shopping or dishes, for others it might mean sitting on a beach for hours while the resort staff delivers drinks right to your cabana, some prefer to go shopping for hours in exotic markets in search of unique local goods to gift to family and friends back home.  No matter how you like to spend your time away it’s not too hard to still be mindful that there is just too much consumption of single-use plastic going on and it needs to stop.  Here are 5 really simple things that you can do that won’t cramp your travel style but will still help you avoid single-use plastic.

1. Avoid straws in drinks

Tropical drinks

Sitting by the beach sipping on a cold cocktail is one of my favorite vacation activities but that mojito tastes just as good when my lips touch the rim of the glass instead of a plastic straw. Try it, I promise you’ll agree. If you absolutely love that straw though consider taking a reusable straw along with you. Tell your server that you don’t want a straw – easy, peasy. Just like at home.

2. Carry reusable water bottles

Sustainable Travel: Reusable Water Bottles
Photo credit: Evita Ochel/Pixabay

There are many options for reusable bottles that make great travel companions. Not only are these perfect for refilling in airports once you are past security but they can also be used to fill up in your hotel room or at water fountains along the way. I’m partial to a BPA-free collapsable water bottle. When I’m in transit my camera bag is usually packed to the gills and a hard-sided bottle just takes up too much room. I like this one because I can fold it up and tuck it away when it’s empty and it doesn’t take up loads of space.

3. Carry reusable bags for shopping

Photo credit: BRRT/Pixabay

You might be going somewhere for just a few days or for a few weeks, either way purchases will be made. By carrying your own reusable shopping bag you can avoid single-use plastic that would otherwise end up in the hotel waste can. The reusable shopping bags I carry aren’t anything fancy. Honestly, I just grab one or two of the same reusable grocery bags I have in rotation at home and pack those in my suitcase. When I’m out shopping they can easily be wadded up and put in my purse or camera bag. At the end of my trip, I find myself using them to separate out my dirty laundry or as extra padding around a more fragile/breakable item.

4. Avoid single-package condiments like butters and jams

The “breakfast included” might be what sealed the deal when you made your lodging decision but that breakfast might also include lots of single use plastic packages of jams, butters, and muffins. Instead of opening up a ridiculous amount of individually packaged condiments opt for the bulk cereal or fresh fruit.

5. Avoid using hotel toiletries

Instead of using the single-use hotel amenities, bring you own in reusable bottles. Photo credit: miles around/Bigstock

It might be tempting to use what the hotel provides so you don’t have to pack your own or you might be one of the folks who runs into your hotel bathroom and snatches up all of the free shampoo and body lotion so you can get more free stuff the next day. If you really want to cut down on single use plastics it’s best to bring your own toiletries in a reusable container. Except for a few hotels that participate in the Clean the World program the toiletries get thrown away after guests checkout.

Related Posts

Find it on the map

UNESCO World Heritage Sites Google Map
UNESCO World Heritage Sites Google Map

Top Stories

Machu Picchu
7 wonders of the modern world are UNESCO World Heritage Sites too
July 12, 2022
UNESCO World Heritage Movies Spectre
Top 10 movies that feature UNESCO World Heritage Sites
November 19, 2018

Follow Us


Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required




Advertisement

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

Last updated: June 04, 2017

McCadams Creative, LLC (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the https://www.globalheritagetravel.com website (the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information when you use our Service.

We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.

We use your Personal Information for providing and improving the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.

Information Collection And Use

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to, your email address, name (“Personal Information”).

We collect this information for the purpose of providing the Service, identifying and communicating with you, responding to your requests/inquiries, servicing your purchase orders, and improving our services.

Log Data

We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics.

In addition, we may use third party services such as Google Analytics that collect, monitor and analyze this type of information in order to increase our Service’s functionality. These third party service providers have their own privacy policies addressing how they use such information.

Cookies

Cookies are files with a small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and transferred to your device. We use cookies to collect information in order to improve our services for you.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. The Help feature on most browsers provide information on how to accept cookies, disable cookies or to notify you when receiving a new cookie.

If you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some features of our Service and we recommend that you leave them turned on.

Behavioral Remarketing

McCadams Creative, LLC uses remarketing services to advertise on third party web sites to you after you visited our Service. We, and our third party vendors, use cookies to inform, optimize and serve ads based on your past visits to our Service.

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service, to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services and/or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Information only to perform specific tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use your information for any other purpose.

Communications

We may use your Personal Information to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send.

Compliance With Laws

We will disclose your Personal Information where required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that such action is necessary to comply with the law and the reasonable requests of law enforcement or to protect the security or integrity of our Service.

Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, and we strive to implement and maintain reasonable, commercially acceptable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information we store, in order to protect it from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.

However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure and we are unable to guarantee the absolute security of the Personal Information we have collected from you.

International Transfer

Your information, including Personal Information, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the information, including Personal Information, to United States and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Links To Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Children’s Privacy

Only persons age 18 or older have permission to access our Service. Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and you learn that your Children have provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from a children under age 13 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of June 04, 2017 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page.

We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you either through the email address you have provided us, or by placing a prominent notice on our website.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us.