How are we trying to reduce our impact whilst on the road?
Over the last half a decade, Chris and I have been actively seeking ways to reduce our environmental impact and have brought many of these practices on the road with us! I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy, and we have found ourselves going back to some old habits that we need to find new solutions for, but hey, we are trying to do our part! If you live in a van, in a home or out of a suitcase, each of these little tips and tricks could help you lead a more sustainable life!
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Keep Cups
As avid coffee addicts, owning keep cups for us is a must! By having cups that have lids has saved us heaps of money too, as we will be more likely to pull over make a quick coffee in the van, pop it in our keep cups and keep moving! I’ve been a long term lover of Pottery for the Planet Keep Cups, so much so that I’ve been through 6 of them (I’m a bit clumsy). They are a beautiful conversation starter and completely plastic free! I love the feeling of holding a warm piece of art in my hands when I’m having my morning brew, or tea in bed. I also have matching ceramic travel bowls that also have silicon lids which are amazing!
Wacaco Coffee Maker
On the note of coffee, I feel its important my Wacaco gets a mention! If you haven’t seen them, they are a handheld pod machine that doesn’t need power. I pack my own pods using the Pod Star Reusable Capsule, which makes for a plastic-free, guilt-free brew. The leftover grounds can be mixed with coconut oil for a body scrub, or organic food waste for an awesome compost.
Stainless Steel Water Bottles
Chris and I both have stainless steel insulated water bottles and they are an absolute essential. Each morning we wake up and fill our bottles with chilled water from the fridge and it keeps it cold for hours, we haven’t bought bottled water since!
Soap Bar w/Cage
I’ve tried using soap bars for dishwashing many times before and honestly was never a fan… Until! I discovered a soap cage. Its is perfect for the van and again, plastic free. We pop the cage under water when we are filling up the sink, give it a little shake in the basin to get some suds going then hang it up over the sink to dry. Like all of our soaps, we make sure its Vegan, cruelty and palm oil free. As a bonus we are still on the bar we bought in July (its currently November)!
Re-Usable Shopping Bags
I considered not adding this because, EVERYONE should have a stash of reusable shopping bags in their car by now. But just in the off-chance you don’t, here’s a reminder to pop those bad boys in your boot and stop paying for them at the checkout. Needless to say, we use ours for everything between shopping hauls and laundry runs.
Natural Sunscreen
As we are always swimming in the ocean, under waterfalls or in waterholes we don’t want to leave any trace of ourselves or effect the environment for other generations that want to visit one day! So we only use natural and reef safe sunscreen! Our favourites are … but there are so many other brands out there, so find the one you love and make the change!
Natural Cleaning Products
Every cleaning product we own is natural! We are currently loving the Cove Refillable multi-purpose cleaners (at time of posting you receive a Pottery for the Planet KeepCup for free when purchasing the starter kit!), as we can pick up the refills from any Woolies or buy a concentrated cleaner. I’ve also recently discovered the brand SpaceWhite which has an incredible range of plastic free products. I absolutely love their dissolvable washing machine sheets, instead of having laundry powder or liquid (which we’ve had many spills of in the van) we have a tidy little box of laundry sheets that are completely plastic and mess free! Its such an innovative idea and I’m obsessed with them!
Selecting Our Activities Carefully
Chris and I rarely do tours, but when we do we do so mindfully.
Is this activity exploiting animals? Caged? Animal rides?
Does this activity negatively affect the environment?
Is this company making any sustainability efforts?
If everyone can try to make mindful decisions when travelling it can force tour providers to reassess their business ethos and see what changes they can make. For me that’s how we can make a difference from the bottom up!
Confessions…
Even though there are so many great habits that we have brought with us on the road, there are also some that we have struggled to continue!
Composting
Before we hit the road we composted and had a little balcony garden that loved it! Since hitting the road and having very little space it’s quite impractical and we've dropped composting completely, (for now).
Plastic Free Food
At home I had a local bulk food store, an unlimited collection of glass jars and cupboard space! Now, not so much… I still have my handy refillable spice jars that are amazing and a refillable oats/granola container but that’s it! Having half-filled jars in our tiny cupboard space is completely impractical and something we haven’t had the luxury of. Its also been much harder to find even basics like oats and rice in bulk in more remote parts of Australia. So when it comes to purchasing food we do our best to buy things in recyclable packaging and utilize soft storage like reusable Ziplock bags when we can!