Could you go a whole month without using any plastic?

We humans can be troublesome, the world around us is continuously bearing the cost of our work, homes and livelihoods. That’s a big reason for why we spread the word about environmentally friendly camping. We encourage all of our campers to embrace and conserve the natural beauty of our forest campsites. 

There’s a special date coming up for the sparking of an eco-initiative, one we think you may want to muck in with. Plastic Challenge Month is going to sweep across the UK in June 2017. It’s a cause we fully support, and here’s what you can do to help…

Let’s tackle our plastic dependency
Firstly, we should probably tell you a bit more about what Plastic Challenge Month actually is and who’s behind it. It’s not a forestry organisation, but the Marine Conservation Society, who are urging us to limit our reliance on disposable plastics from the 1^st- 30^th June and beyond!

Although the bulk of the challenge is directed at protecting ocean life, plastic waste is also a prominent smudge on the health of our regional woods. In 2014 alone, 3.7 million tonnes of the stuff was recorded in landfill sites across the country; we don’t want to think about what the figure has crept up to since then…

The challenge focuses primarily on single use plastics. Items like food packaging, bottles, cups and bags which are often thrown away carelessly.

The majority of us will, at some point have seen plastic bags stuck in hedges or ice lolly wrappers strewn in the street on a hot day. Thinking about sights like these makes it easy to get down about wasted resources, the danger to wildlife and negative impact on our global ecosystem. 

Let’s not dwell on the negatives, we know change is needed for the health of our planet and Plastic Challenge Month is a cause for celebration. It’s a chance to make a big change to our plastic usage and make others aware of how plastics damage our ecosystem.

How to curb your waste
Every little step in the right direction helps towards a cleaner forest environment.

Making small changes, not only at home but also whilst camping can have a big impact. We’ve come up with some easy methods of reducing your plastic footprint just in time for June:  

• Don’t sip from straws. Unless you have small children, straws aren’t a necessity. Plastic straws mount into one of the sneakiest waste piles there is. However if you do prefer to drink your favourite beverages out of a straw, you can buy special glass or stainless steel versions online which are reusable and don’t result in huge amounts of wastage. 
• Use a traditional razor. Disposable razors are popular amongst campers, but a razor for keeps is better than one that ends up in the muck or a landfill area. 
• Ditch water bottles for a reusable container. All of our campsites have water taps so that you can source clean drinking water. Think about the vessel you’re planning to use to collect and carry the water back to your pitch. Is it plastic? Can you reuse it? If you’re thinking of bringing a large plastic water container and putting it in the bin when you pack up, consider if you can reuse it in another way. Small stainless steel water bottles can be bought for very little online and will last for years, saving you a pretty penny and the environment another plastic item in the landfill. 
• Choose foil over food bags. Often times, campers make big batches of freezer food that can be stored in zip top bags, defrosted on site and heated up for a few dinners. This is a great tactic, requiring minimal meal prep effort on site. The problem here lies in what the food is being stored in. Where possible, use reusable containers which aren’t going to be put in the bin on the campsite before you leave. Reuse, reuse, reuse! If it’s essential to use some kind of food wrapper, use aluminium foil, this can be recycled and has less of a negative impact on CO2 emissions than other recyclables. 
• Take a reusable flask with you to coffee shops. This is a trend we’re happy to see growing, not only in remote locations but also within cities during morning commutes. Paper coffee cups with plastic lids create a huge amount of waste every day. Go in with a reusable flask, it won’t only save the landfills and keep your drink warmer for longer, some chains offer discounts when you use branded flasks too! 
• Don’t buy chewing gum! Guess what chewing gum is made of? Chewing gum is made of synthetic rubber. Use mints instead for a quick way to reduce your waste whilst keeping your breath fresh. 
• Watch your cosmetics. Microbeads are tiny, round pieces of plastic used in cosmetics like shower gels, face scrubs and even toothpaste! They’re designed to easily wash down drains. The problem starts when they begin to break down, releasing toxins into water, are eaten by marine life and start to make their way from the waste, back up to our food plates. In the UK the government is planning on banning microbeads from all cosmetic products by the end of 2017. This is a great step in the right direction; however we don’t think the ocean should have to wait until then to be clean of the tiny beads. Please check your cosmetics and refrain from washing microbeads down our campsite drains, the ingredient you’re looking for is “polyethylene”. 
• Keep an eye on your corks. Right, this is a weird one. The next time you open a bottle of wine, stop to check whether the cork is natural or if it’s plastic.  We encourage only buying bottles with a natural cork. It’s such an easy way to cut down but it isn’t the first thing you thought about when considering cutting out plastic was it? 
• Get it fixed! When your plastic storage containers break, instead of throwing them straight in the bin, see if they can be fixed. If not, will they work for another purpose? If you do need new plastic containers, see if you can buy good quality second hand items instead of brand new. Each new plastic item being purchased is one more that’s going to add to the problem.

These are just a handful of tips, and more can be found with a quick internet search. Once you start looking, you’ll notice all kinds of unnecessary plastics you’re using in everyday life. 

Plastic Challenge Month is a commendable effort to care for our trees, oceans and rivers and all of the creatures that live within them. We hope this post has got you thinking about your plastic usage and that your next camping trip creates a little less plastic waste!

If you haven’t already booked your camping trip for June, we have availability at locations throughout the UK.