Zero Waste Travel Kit: How to Reduce Plastic Use While Travelling
A zero waste travel kit is the perfect first step in your zero waste journey. Read on to find out what you should take and how/where you can purchase it.
As sustainable living grows in popularity, more and more people are looking to lower their environmental impact in any way possible… particularly when travelling.
One way of doing this, is to reduce your use of plastic. It makes sense – we are choking in the stuff after all.
It’s hard to dispense with plastic altogether (trust me, I have tried), but you can massively decrease the amount you go through at home and when travelling.
It all comes down to being organised and equipping yourself with the right tools – some zero waste travel products. These are items that you can use in lieu of the many disposable utensils that you’ll encounter while on the road.
Read more: Eco-friendly Products You Should Always Pack
How to Prepare a Zero Waste Travel Kit
When I first started cutting back on my plastic use in 2016, I wasn’t sure of what steps I’d need to take to limit my use of the stuff when travelling.
I already travelled with a reusable drink bottle, but soon realised I’d need a small collection of other multi-use items, if I wanted to avoid using plastic altogether.
Overtime, I gathered most of these together in a make-shift kit, after a time of serious trial and error.
“How fantastic would it be,” I thought to myself. “If there was a kit you could invest in that had everything you needed, in order to swap out plastic, disposable junk, for utensils and the like, which are long-lasting and environmentally friendly.”
Fast-forward several years and there are many companies looking to solve this issue, in particular Australian company Senda Essentials, who have put together a Travel Essentials kit, which will negate the need to use plastic when travelling.
It’s something I really wish I had when I was starting out with plastic-free travel. It will assist you greatly if you’re looking for a product which will help you travel zero waste at home and abroad.
Read more: Everything You Need to Know About Zero Waste Travel
The zero waste travel kit contains the following:
- 800ml stainless steel water bottle
- 600ml foldable black water bottle
- Organic cotton tote
- Mesh produce bag
- Cutlery and straw set
- Organic bamboo lunchbox
Each item is made out of responsibly sourced materials and with a bit of TLC, will last a long time.
[bctt tweet=”This Travel Essentials kit contains a reusable tote and produce bag, two drink bottles, cutlery, a straw and a lunchbox and will help you travel zero waste at home and abroad. #SustainableTravel”]
Why this kit is ideal for zero waste travel
Here are some reasons why I’d recommend this kit to all planet-loving travellers.
It covers all your basics
The Travel Essentials kit comes with mostly everything you need for travelling plastic-free. The only thing it’s really missing is a reusable coffee cup, if you’re a keen coffee drinker.
It’s lightweight
Due the lightweight nature of the materials, the entire kit weighs less than 1 kilogram, making it easy to transport around.
Everything packs away neatly
When not in use, you can fold one of the drink bottles right up, the cutlery pack and mesh bag can be tucked into the lunchbox and everything fits quite snugly in the tote bag, with plenty of room to spare.
It’s good value for money
Buying each piece of a zero waste travel kit separately would fast rack up the dollars – a decent water bottle alone will generally set you back more than thirty dollars.
By purchasing the kit in one go, you’ll be saving cash that can be spent on more important things, like food.
It looks good
If you have an appreciation for fashion or design like myself, you will enjoy just how cohesive this kit is. These zero-waste travel accessories are all well-designed and are quite lovely to look at.
I particularly like the lunchbox and bamboo cutlery, they have a nice feel to them.
It’s multi-purposeful
The kit is not just handy for travel, but for many other instances in your day to day life, which we’ll cover below.
In what circumstances is the zero waste travel kit ideal for?
Road trips
I’m personally a big fan of road trips (particularly in Australia) and took the opportunity to test the Travel Essentials kit on three different occasions, before writing this review.
Filling the two bottles full of water will cover you for most of a day’s travel, if you can’t find a water source (the opening of the stainless steel bottle is also wide enough for the use of a [easyazon_link identifier=”B01MXLG81W” locale=”US” tag=”birdgehls10-20″ localize=”y”]SteriPen[/easyazon_link]).
You can pack snacks into the lunchbox and bring fruit in the mesh bag.
The cutlery and straw are ready to be used, should you purchase food whilst on the road. It ticks a lot of boxes in this regard.
Train trips
Likewise, the Travel Essentials kit is ideal for train trips – you can pack everything you need and go.
Food Markets
I love eating at food markets (and am a big fan of street food as well), but I hate the waste that comes with it.
You could use this kit to do your shopping, popping everything in the zero waste container and bag. The cutlery’s there to dig into a nice treat once all the hard work is done.
Work
The lunchbox and drink bottle in particular have been invaluable in preparations for work! I try to make my own lunch to save on both plastic waste and money and the kit gives me everything I need to do just that.
Carry-on luggage
Due to the lightweight nature of the kit, you can easily pack away some or all of the items into your carry-on luggage. I would probably pack the knife in check in, as security can get funny about these sort of things.
A great social initiative
I greatly admire small companies (especially if they’re Australian biased much), who are trying to do their bit to make the world a greener place.
In many developing countries, purified water is available to drink at local businesses and stations from 20L blue water drums.
Senda are looking to encourage local businesses to sell filtered water as an alternative to smaller bottles of the stuff.
These stickers are intended to be given to local businesses, to place in their shop fronts and windows, with the price of water written on the white line.
That way, travellers don’t have to repeatedly purchase separate bottles of water and the businesses can make a little money selling purified water at an affordable price.
You can read more about their initiative here.
All in all, it’s a great multi-purpose kit, which will help limit the amount of plastic waste you generate while out and about. Every little bit counts. Plus, you get to lend your support to an Australian small business along the way. It’s good for the economy and the planet!
Other posts on sustainability
How to avoid plastic when you don’t speak the language
Is this the holy Grayl of filtered water bottles?
Responsible travel bloggers you should be following
7 benefits of a plastic-free lifestyle
20 ways you can travel responsibly and save money
How to have an eco-friendly period while travelling
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Please note – Senda Essentials provided me with a Travel Essentials kit, in exchange for a review. Rest assured, I only review items I have used myself. Read my disclosure if you require more information.
