When shopping for new camping supplies, remember to check for products that have greener, eco-friendly qualities. Not only are there big-ticket camping essentials such as packs, sleeping bags, and even tents that are made with easy-on-the-environment materials, but there are eco-friendly options for basic supplies that can go camping, and travel with you into everyday life, as well.
Biobags Over Petroleum-Based Plastic Bags
Consider purchasing some kitchen waste bags from BioBags USA, and use these 100% biodegradable and compostable bags to fill the waste-collecting role that the ubiquitous plastic ones play in daily routines. The 3-gallon bags, available 25 to a roll for $4.39 at BuyGreen.com, are perfect for refrigerator food storage, as well as lining countertop compost pails. (A 2-gallon size, $3.59 for a roll of 25, is also available.)
BioBags claim to keep refrigerated food fresh longer, and to reduce odor and bacterial build-up when used for storing waste products. Imagine how useful these would be at your campsite.
These bags are made primarily from non-genetically modified cornstarch, and are "designed to be composted and returned naturally back to the earth," according to the company's fact sheet. In a controlled composting environment they will decompose in 10 - 45 days. They offer an interesting choice, compared to the wastefulness inherent in each plastic bag which has been designed to be a disposable product, yet is a item that will remain intact in landfills for over 100 years.
Plastic Plates From Preserve; Why This Plastic is the Good Choice
So, plastic plates over paper ones when serving one's hamburgers and beans, or pasta with romaine and a balsamic vinaigrette, in the wilderness? This may be a very good choice indeed, and not just because it's difficult to eat salad from a soggy paper plate.
If you choose plastic plates from Preserve Products, you are using a product made from BPA-free, recycled plastic #5 (polypropylene). Use and reuse them (they are dishwasher safe) and when finished with these second-life plastics, recycle them again for a third life as plastic "lumber."
The company that produces Preserve Products, Recycline Inc. in Waltham, MA, has used nearly 100 tons of recycled plastic since it began in 1996, with a single product – its reverse-curved, ergonomic, recycled-handle toothbrush. Recycline's efforts both reclaim #5 plastic from the waste stream – diverting it from landfills – and result in real savings of water and energy that would have been needed to produce the same products from raw materials.
Recycled Inner Tubes Make a Fashion Statement, and Plastic Bottles Become Socks
Sometimes innovative green products that help reduce the waste stream are made from re-purposed, hard-to-recycle materials. Ecologic Designs in Boulder CO, is dedicated to doing this, reclaiming such materials as vinyl banners and billboards and rubber inner tubes from old bike tires, and turning them into clothing, bags, and personal accessories.
Practical, stylish, and different, black rubber pouches accented with a bright green zipper are one of their Green Guru products, designed to protect your little things – credit cards or keys, for instance. Made from recycled inner tubes, these good-looking, indestructible bags come in three sizes – the small one ($8) is the size of an index notecard, and the largest ($20) could hold a Kindle (see link at photo below).
Another company that makes a unique kind of footwear known as toesocks, is using an equally unique fabric made from a high-quality polyester yarn that has been transformed from recycled plastic bottles. Injinji, the maker of toesocks which separate your toes with a thin membrane of fabric between each one (think gloves for your feet!) now offers their brightly-striped mini-crew toesocks made from 70% CoolMax EcoMade fiber.
In sizes Small to Extra-large, the Injini EcoMade toesocks are $14 a pair. Injini claims that the low-friction membranes between the toes will eliminate rubbing and blisters often acquired on the hiking trail.
All Natural Ingredients Promise to Keep the Bugs Away
In the woods, or in the city, if it's summer, you will need an effective insect repellent. Here are two to try, each made with nothing but natural products and the essential oils that many feel are natural repellents.
Duross and Langel, a small soap and skincare products firm in Philadelphia using botanical sources for its products, offers Bug Off, a rub-on balm in stick form, for $7.95. Beekman 1802, a sustainable products farm in upstate New York devoted to "the artisanal, the handmade," sells an 8-ounce bug repellent bar of Beekman goat milk, citronella and eucalyptus oils, for $14.95. Each bar is cut into 10 small squares, making it portable for short trips.
Each of the six products described here is an earth-friendly choice, that can add pleasure or convenience to many summer activities. Read about larger investments in camp gear that can help, too, at Plan a Greener Camping Trip.
Kathlin F. Sickel - Reading and writing in print and online. So much to uncover and report. Join me; let's see what we can discover.
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