It’s not just about water bottles and coffee cups, there are so many other plastic items we can do without when we travel.
Over the last few months we have seen great strides in reducing plastic use in travel. Virgin Atlantic’s new in flight goodie bag, IHG’s pledge to remove bathroom miniatures from their hotels, or San Francisco Airport no banning plastic water bottles are good examples of business heading in the right direction, but you can rightly ask are they going far enough?
We have been passionate about the fight to reduce single use plastic for a long time. We are members of the group Travelers Against Plastic, and support the City to Sea campaign to travel without plastic.
Toothbrushes, shower gel, shampoo, zip lock bags, wet wipes, sanitary products, plastic cutlery, the list goes on. All of these items have plastic free alternatives. Some will come with increased costs, the last thing we want to do is increase the cost for students going on trip, but the more people buy plastic free items the cheaper they will become…
Travel tips for reducing plastic
The simplest thing you can do to reduce plastic usage it to bring a bottle. Many coffee shops, train stations and airports both here and overseas will have water fountains you can use. Remember to download the refill app to help find places that allow you to refill your water bottle for free – True Adventure head office is on there!
Look out for our next blog where we will be talking more about water purification. We’ll tell you the pros and cons of the most common systems specifically related to student travel.
We have updated all of our kit lists over the last few years to encourage students to travel without plastic. The simplest thing you can do is to use reusable dry bags instead of plastic bags to waterproof your kit – yes they cost more but they last a lot longer too!
There are so many plastic free alternatives for toiletries now. So many that I am surprised how many people still don’t know about them, or just simply decide not to use them. Instead of shower gel use good old fashioned soap as a starter!
I’m sure like us you have been on trips where packed lunches are included. Take your own cutlery, or even lunch box to reduce single use plastic.
Is there more I can do?
Yes, we have only included 5 tips – there are many more. City to Sea have produced a great image with other ideas, and a shop to buy plastic free products.
