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6 Eco-Friendly Travel Products to Pack for A Green Vacation
It's sometimes difficult to go green when it comes to traveling. With airplanes, taxis, trains and other modes of transportation, the activity itself comes with a hefty carbon footprint. But with a little planning, there are products you can pack which are environmentally friendly and improve sustainability, even on vacation.
1. Reusable Travel Bottles
If you pack full-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, you add unnecessary weight to your luggage. But if you go with travel-size bottles, you use up plastic and create more trash, contributing to the 18 billion pounds of plastic waste which flows into the oceans each year. Fortunately for travel lovers, there’s a happy middle ground.
Travel bottles, such as the ones from GoToob and Travel Buddy, are convenient and reusable. Now, you can always bring along the perfect number of toiletries. Most of these containers are 100% BPA-free and safe for food. Made of silicone, they’re very durable and won’t cause a hassle by leaking into your luggage. As a bonus, they’re also TSA-approved.
2. Bamboo Makeup Pads
It's important to clean your face at the end of a long day to remove makeup and prevent breakouts. But do you ever wonder what happens to all those makeup pads once they go in the trash? While it's convenient to have a one-and-done makeup removing solution, all those pads add up and place strain on the environment.
Reusable makeup pads, such as the eco-friendly bamboo nursing pads, are washable and reusable. Most sets come with multiple pads, so you don’t have to rush to get them in the laundry. Not only will using reusable makeup pads save the environment, but it will also save you money over time since you don't have to buy cotton pads again and again.
3. Outdoor Solar Lantern
If you’re a traveler who loves the outdoors — or you’re visiting a destination with spotty electricity — a solar-powered lamp is the perfect green travel accessory. Just a few hours of sunlight can mean several hours of low-level illumination at night that’s completely safe for the environment.
Maybe the power is out, and you need to light up your room. Or perhaps it’s nighttime, and you want to read. You never know when you'll need light, especially when you're in an unfamiliar place. What's great about these solar lanterns is many of them are multi-functional, designed with built-in power banks which can charge your cell phone or other devices.
4. Glass Water Bottle
Water bottles are a major concern for environmentalists. As many as 38 billion water bottles — more than $1 billion worth of plastic — enter landfills each year. On the other hand, glass water bottles are reusable and recyclable, making them the perfect green accessory for the eco-conscious traveler.
What’s nice about glass bottles is they are 100% BPA-free. They’re also transparent, meaning you can see what’s inside and how much is left. For those concerned about the bottle being fragile, most designs come with a silicone sleeve to protect the glass and prevent any slippage.
5. Biodegradable Dental Floss
Dentists are always warning us about the importance of flossing. But most floss brands are made of plastic, which doesn’t get recycled and ends up in landfills and waterways. Plus, some brands of floss are coated with perfluorooctanoic acid to make it glide better, a chemical which has links to dementia, cancer and thyroid disease.
If you want to maintain your oral health but want an alternative to traditional floss, look at eco-friendly options. This type of floss is composed of silk, making it 100% biodegradable. It’s free of harmful chemicals and even comes in a refillable glass container.
6. Mobile Laundry Machine
Trying to clean your clothes while traveling is never easy. And washing machines tend to harm the environment, with even the most efficient models using up to 25 gallons of water per load. With a mobile laundry machine, you can wash clothes by hand anywhere in the world. Most models only use three to six liters of water and don’t require electricity, reducing your energy consumption.
Consider how much you would pay to wash your clothes at a hotel or laundromat. A mobile laundry machine, which has a start-up cost of around $50, will quickly pay for itself after just one trip, making it the perfect product to pack for a green vacation.
The Best Eco-Friendly Travel Products
It can be tough to plan an eco-friendly vacation, especially when you want to focus on comfort and convenience. But sustainable practices don’t just help the environment, they also help reduce the weight in your suitcase and save you money. The six accessories above can help you have fun on your journey while still going green.
