Summer travel doesn’t have to mean summer trash
We travel more—and trash more—in July than any other month. It doesn’t have to be that way.
The sun is shining, the days are longer, and school is out. We still have 24 hours each day, but we seem to have so much more time.
So what do we do? Pack our bags!
Summer is synonymous with travel. According to Gallup, most of us in the U.S will vacation in July. And air travel data backs this up, with July 2023 racking up 148 million airplane arrivals - the highest number of the year. Hotels light up their “No Vacancy” signs. Beaches are dotted with umbrellas. The National Parks fill up, and festivals abound.
We are on the go. And we are not giving up convenience for the sake of adventure. Instead, we’re trashing the place.
Here’s the thing: More travel inevitably means more fuel. It also, and less inevitably, means more plastic and trash. According to The World Wildlife Fund, “holidaymakers cause a 40 percent surge in marine litter -- 95 percent of it plastic -- entering the Mediterranean Sea each summer.”
From plastic plates and forks to plastic-lined cups and disposable water bottles, we can do better. It may take more time and planning, but it’s the least we can do to sustain a safer, cleaner world. And to sweeten the deal—you’ll probably save money.
Planes, trains, and automobiles
In terms of carbon emissions from transportation, car travel is by far the worst offender, accounting for 48 percent of emissions from transportation, with air travel accounting for 5-6 percent and train travel accounts for only 1 percent.
Of course, this is because we use cars for daily travel to and from jobs, schools, and stores. When it comes to vacation travel, it will depend on the distance you’re traveling and the type of plane or car. In most cases, in terms of emissions, a bus or train will have the lowest impact.
Where trash is concerned, air travel is the heavy waster. According to City to Sea UK, passenger flights generate 5,700,000 million tons of waste each year. And that’s not including waste that happens at the airport.
How to reduce waste in transit:
Bring a reusable water bottle.
Pack reusable cups, utensils, and a cloth napkin or two.
Pack your own snacks.
Yes, you’ll have to save space in your bags and think ahead. Yes, you’ll have to find a way to wash them from time to time. And yes, you’ll be going against the grain in some cases.
Also yes? No more $4.00 bottles of water, oversized bags of chips, and mediocre gas station coffee.
Checking out of hotel plastic
20,000 plastic water bottles.
49,765 plastic amenities and amenity packages—think little shampoos and soaps.
216,693 pieces of plastic for food and drink, including cups and plastic wrap.
13,375 plastic bags.
Those are just some of the plastic items used in a 200-room hotel in the span of one month in the fully booked summer.
While some major hotel chains are beginning to change, offering washable coffee mugs in-room and permanent dispensers for shampoo and body wash, there’s still a long way to go to reduce the enormous amount of trash hotels produce daily.
How to reduce waste at the hotel:
Just like with transit, you can bring reusable food and beverage containers.
Pack your own toiletries, especially bar soaps and shampoos.
Shop at local markets for food and snacks.
Bonus: eating produce from the grocery store or fruit stands and drinking coffee you make yourself will be tastier, healthier, and cheaper.
Tourism with less trash
While traveling, we eat more convenience foods, drink more bottled water, and shop more. As a result, we throw out tons of plastic water bottles, coffee cups, food wrapping, and shopping bags.
In fact, several studies have shown that tourists are responsible for twice as much trash as locals.
How to reduce trash as a tourist:
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, bring reusable bottles and utensils!
Carry easy-to-pack reusable shopping bags that take up almost no space in a backpack.
Eat at a sit-down restaurant or, even better, shop at the grocery store.
Instead of buying cheap souvenirs, send postcards and take photos to frame at home.
Trade a little less convenience for a lot less trash
There’s no getting around it, many of these ideas will require planning, packing, and carrying things you might not otherwise plan, pack, or carry.
The more we train ourselves to pause and plan ahead to reduce trash, the less it will seem like an inconvenience and the more commonplace it will become.
It may seem like you’re the only one doing it. You may wonder if one person can make a difference. And the answer is that one person is always part of a collective. One person influences another and becomes two people. And two becomes four. And before you know it, the behavior becomes normal.
And collectively, we have great power.