When your traveling on an Island, your awareness of how much waste you are creating goes up even higher. Where does all the trash go on this tiny, beautiful place and how are recyclables dealt with? Do they compost here?
I used our travel experience as an opportunity to explore how successful I could be maintaining my “semi-zero-waste” goals while on the go… and being on the go is usually when we slip to the foil of convenience and don’t put in the extra effort required to avoid single use products… and when we are traveling for fun, sometimes we go into what I like to call “vacation brain” or “festival brain” where our regular values get a little loose because we are caught up in the moment and have a somewhat more indulgent mindset. This was the perfect opportunity to observe my own behavior and test out my new GREEN LINE products!
Even though I was excited my coconut water came in its natural born container, I didn’t have the foresight to ask them to skip the plastic straw. A lot of vendors on the island are using paper straws so it was good to see plastic free efforts at numerous locations.
We spent almost two weeks on Kauai traveling around in a camper van. Having the van with a small kitchen set up really helped us manage our waste but there were still highs and lows when I was really keeping an eye out.
It was so fun to break in my new coffee cups and chat with people who were intrigued by seeing the artwork on my cups! If art makes zero waste lifestyle sexy, I’m all for it!
We traveled with the following “zero waste” kit:
one stainless steel 12 oz coffee cup
two 32 oz stainless steel water bottles
two bamboo utensil sets
reusable pour over coffee filter (a.k.a. coffee sock)
reusable grocery bag
two wooden bowls
pocket knife
cloth napkins
The van came with a camp stove, plates, cups, and towels. Here are some of my waste less :: love more takeaways from the trip.
Successes
Shopping at farmers markets and buying primarily fruits and veggies that come in zero packaging // foraging for our own food from the land (supreme luxury!) // cooking out of the van more than getting to-go food from food trucks or pre-packaged meals at grocery stores that come in unavoidable packaging // traveling with the right supplies to BYO and being willing to decline the “regular packaging” when ordering at coffee shops or cafes.
Challenges
Storing enough water for van camping- The van didn’t come with a water jug so we had to buy a large plastic bottle to store extra water // Food storage in the cooler was tricky to manage without ziplock bags to keep the food dry from the melting ice // Sometimes food trucks refused to serve our food on our own plates and we didn’t want to miss the chance to try unique local foods while traveling // Airport mishaps- despite great efforts to bring our own meals on the airplane, some of our travel days were really long and security only allowed me to bring certain things in my carry on. There were also moments where were simply in too much of a rush or I was just too tired to pull off 100% zero waste practices- which is a reality for all of us a lot of the time. I think the goal is to just try and reduce those times as best as possible and the antidote is being prepared with the right tools and the right mindset.
Overall the trip was a great success and a fun experiment in zero waste practices while traveling. I couldn’t resist taking this last photo in the airport. It seemed to capture the spirit of our biggest demon when it comes to wasting less- convience and the pace of our lifestyle. In our favorite town, Hanalei, there are all these signs that said “SLOW YOURSELF DOWN.” That spoke to me on a lot of levels but it was also a fitting message for what would help us Love More, Waste Less!
