Who out here is a big travel lover? Or as the GenZ like to call it, a Wanderlust? I would like to say me! I love travelling and everything about it. From planning the trip to packing to going on road journeys. The travel industry today is an extremely big economic field that helps fund several countries today. I am sure all of you have seen advertisements all over social media and the television, promoting the tourism of several places. Some of them are extremely appealing while some not so much. However, as much as people take over travelling as a profession and hobby, what they don’t realize is that the industry contributes drastically to depleting the resources of the earth and increasing the pollution rates all over the climate.
Now, obviously, prohibiting travelling isn’t a solution as that would literally make the industry collapse. However, there are a few steps that we as travellers can take to make this procedure extremely eco-friendly. For instance, picking the correct kind of travel option to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Little did you know, you could start all the way from the beginning – the packing stages. Here are a few tips that you can follow to pack in a sustainable manner so that all your requirements are met.
- Make a checklist
Now this may seem to be an obvious step that almost every person takes while packing their bags before a trip. Doing this would consciously make you go around the house and check for the things that you already have. Automatically, this would reduce the amount of waste that you would create while shopping.
- Something borrowed
Who said you need to have “your something borrowed” just at weddings? The best way to reduce waste and exhaustion of materials from the surrounding and cost, is to borrow things from others like friends and family. Refashion some boots or rewear some coat instead of shopping for new ones. Today's generation has the worst habit of wanting to buy new products just because people have already seen it once before or because it has been uploaded on Instagram, and guess what, I am guilty of doing the same thing. But is it really worth it?
- A zero-waste kit
So, the big question is what is a zero-waste kit? It is simply a packing kit that you can assemble with things that can substitute one time use items and disposable for example a water bottle, some cutlery, straws, etc. Take some thoughtful actions before embarking on your trip like filling up the water bottle from home instead of buying a plastic one from outside.
- Invest in eco-friendly toiletries
With technology and industries so advanced, there are products like environmental-friendly shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, etc. An example would be a bamboo toothbrush instead of a plastic one to reduce the plastic waste in landfills.
A new year marks the beginning of new plans and trips. Now of course, no one is stopping that but the one thing that we can change is the way you pack. Taking flights or cars are an unwanted decision that everyone must make at the cost of increasing global warming. However, decisions in our hand like how many bags to pack is on us. Let me know a smart change that you think you have made when it comes to traveling. Big or small, it’s the effort that counts.