We have never talked as much as we do now about travel and the environment, pollution and ecological alarms: our lifestyle is rapidly destroying the planet and turning this paradise into a rubbish dump.
With a few small adjustments we can live in a way that respects the environment more and do our own bit, both in daily life and while travelling.
An honest preamble, because otherwise this article would be hypocritical: the choice that really counts when you travel is the mode of transport, and I come to it further down. Everything else consists of good habits that matter little in terms of total emissions but a lot in terms of the waste we leave behind, and that save money into the bargain. They are worth adopting, as long as we don’t kid ourselves that they are enough.
Here are my 5 ways to cut pollution while travelling, ready to discover them?
The reusable bottle
When we talk about travel and the environment, the first thing that comes to mind is the excessive use we make of plastic, and of plastic bottles in particular. It has been a few years now since I stopped buying single-use bottles in favour of my extremely practical reusable bottle. This way I have radically cut down on wasted bottles, and on their cost too.
While travelling the reusable bottle is even handier than in everyday life, because you can fill it at fountains and always have a supply of fresh water.
Two useful things to know. First: in much of Europe tap water is drinkable and a great many cities have public drinking fountains, from Rome’s nasoni to the fountains of Vienna fed by Alpine springs; there are also apps and collaborative maps showing where you can refill for free. Second: if you fly, remember the bottle must be emptied before security and refilled afterwards, at the fountains almost every airport now provides.
Long live reusable bottles!
The reusable bag
Plastic bags are an essential travel accessory. I put shoes in them, dirty clothes, I often fill them with souvenirs that won’t fit in the suitcase and so on. But why, instead of plastic bags, don’t we use reusable cloth ones?
They can be washed rather than ending up scattered in the environment, they still take up little space and they look nicer too.
On this front, incidentally, Europe has moved: the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904, in force since July 2021, has banned across the Union disposable cutlery, plates, straws, cotton bud sticks, stirrers and polystyrene containers. Many countries have since tackled carrier bags too. So the cloth bag is no longer just a virtuous choice: in several places it is simply the only thing they will give you.
For a few years now I have always kept two or three in my suitcase!
Hotel towels
If we think about travel and the environment, we cannot skip the problem of hotels being forced to change linen at excessive rates: sheets that get washed even after a single night’s stay.
But what if we are staying longer?
Is it really necessary to change the bed every two days? And the towels, which we expect to be changed daily? Is it genuinely needed?
To avoid polluting and cut pointless waste, let’s keep our towels and sheets for several days, asking for them not to be changed. The mechanism is almost always in place already: the card in the bathroom usually explains that a towel left hanging up will not be replaced, while one thrown on the floor will. It is a perfectly normal request, and many hotels also offer the option of skipping daily cleaning altogether.
Change starts with small gestures!
Choose your transport well: train and carpooling
Here we come to the item that weighs more than all the others put together.
Trains, planes, cars, ships: every mode of transport we take contributes to pollution, but not to the same degree, and the difference is enormous. According to European Environment Agency estimates, the train is by far the most efficient mode per passenger: on a comparable route a train journey can emit a fraction of the CO2 of a flight, with reductions that, depending on the calculation, run from eighty to well over ninety per cent. In rough figures, we are talking about tens of grams of CO2 per passenger-kilometre by train against a couple of hundred for a domestic flight.
Translated: if a destination can be reached by train in a reasonable time, taking the train instead of the plane is the single most effective green choice in this entire list. Everything else comes afterwards.
When the car is unavoidable, I have for some time started sharing the journey with others when I find myself with a half-empty car. One of the handiest services I regularly use is BlaBlaCar; do note the terminology, though, because this isn’t car sharing (short-term car hire) but carpooling, that is, sharing the free seats on a journey you were making anyway. Not only am I doing something good for the environment, I also save a bit of money to spend on my travels.
Do also consider other forms of slow, mindful and relaxed tourism, such as walking routes or cycle trails.
They are good for your health, for the environment and for the mind!
For the ladies: do you know how polluting sanitary pads are?
Let’s talk about it: almost every woman in the world menstruates for around forty years of her life, every month, for a week. Some more, some less, but the pollution caused by sanitary products is something we can no longer ignore. Think of the quantity of pads thrown away, multiplied by every woman on the planet, for a week a month for forty years.
It frightens me.
And it isn’t just a feeling: pads and panty liners are largely made of plastic, so much so that the same European single-use directive included them among the products that must carry a label about correct disposal and the presence of plastic.
Quite apart from the cost of sanitary products, which is high anyway, today there are effective, non-polluting and comfortable alternatives that will save you money, skin irritation and time.
I’m talking about menstrual cups, a small object with the power to change our lives and to help us cut a great deal of waste. A medical-grade silicone cup, looked after properly, lasts years, which gives you an idea of how many packets don’t end up in the bin.
Since I discovered it I have been so enthusiastic that I wouldn’t go back for anything in the world.
I find it extremely convenient. I often forget I’m wearing it, and it lets me swim in the sea without a problem and go horse riding without constantly thinking about a pad.
This is definitely a topic to tackle when talking about travel and the environment, not least because another point in favour of the menstrual cup is that it takes up almost no space in a suitcase. One practical note for travellers: it must be sterilised in boiling water at the start and end of your period, which isn’t always easy in a hostel or campsite, and in countries where tap water isn’t drinkable it should be rinsed with bottled water. If that sounds like an obstacle, there are also washable pads and period underwear, which solve the same problem another way.
To anyone who says it is uncomfortable, that it is gross, that it is disgusting, I only reply that this is our body, and that if your own blood disgusts you, you have some work to do, because something isn’t right.
Better to wash your hands one more time or to pollute the planet?
The choice is yours.
Travel and the environment: over to you!
I hope this post is useful to you and gives you some food for thought about our lives and our habits.
None of these five habits saves the planet on its own, and anyone promising that is selling you something. But packing a reusable bottle and a cloth bag costs nothing, asking for your towels not to be changed costs nothing either, and choosing the train where possible genuinely shifts the needle.
And you, which of these habits have you already adopted? Is there one I’m missing?
