Leave No Trace. Legions of outdoorsy people follow this principle of leaving the environments you visit in the same state as you found it. It's a way of ensuring that future generations can also enjoy nature as nature should be.
My family—two adults and a kid—love to do backcountry trips and after many years of following leave-no-tracers—and much trial and error—we’ve managed to whittle down our waste to almost nothing. Here’s how we do it.
1. Think Reusable Everything
Reusable water bottles, stainless steel food containers, beeswax wraps, food bags—all these things make it easy for us to bring what we need without creating any waste. With two females in our family, we also bring our own Kula Cloths, reusable antimicrobial pee cloths!
2. Go Bulk
Prepping properly can make the difference between a trip with lots of garbage or none at all.
The best tip I was ever given was to head to the bulk food store with my reusable bags. We pick up the usual suspects like trail mix, candy, oats, pasta. I’ll also bring my glass jars to fill with ingredients so I can make some pre-cooked meals to take along. I like to store things like chili or hearty soup in Stasher bags. At dinnertime, I can just drop them in boiling water to heat up our meal!
3. Ditch the Plastic
If you’re already packing reusable items and prepping meals and snacks ahead of time, you’re halfway to having a plastic-free outdoor experience. Personal toiletries are where things can get tricky. Luckily, things like shampoo bars, lip balms, toothpaste, and even toothbrushes exist in no-waste, no-plastic versions. So you can still keep yourself clean while keeping the environment ‘clean’ too.
If you’re planning any outdoor adventures this summer (or any kind of trip for that matter), you might want to look into etee’s Get Outside Sale. They have a smorgasbord of plastic-free items that are super convenient, super light, super practical for any kind of travel. And best of all, they’re all plastic-free!
