Tourism has exploded in the past 3 decades with more people than ever before traveling abroad. We firmly believe in the immeasurable benefits of travel, but deeply understand that those experiences come at a cost.
Tourism will continue to negatively affect the environments and communities we visit unless more is done. Our goal is to help reduce these impacts through the promotion of sustainable travel and the elimination of single-use plastic in the travel industry.
Around 8-12 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every year. That’s the equivalent of a garbage truck dumping a full load of plastic into the ocean every minute.
Unfortunately, the travel industry is a significant contributor to this marine plastic emergency.
WHY?
- 80% of all tourism takes place in coastal areas.
- Plastics used for urban tourism often ends up in rivers, and eventually carried into our oceans.
- Many popular destinations do not have adequate recycling infrastructure.
- Airlines, hotels and cruise ships rely heavily on single-use cups, straws, toiletries etc.
So often, single-use plastics in the travel industry are used for mere minutes yet take 100’s of years to decompose. And the tragic irony is, we all want to experience pristine beaches and coastlines on our travels, yet tourism is a major contributor to the degradation of them.
We believe that getting to the root of the travel industry’s plastic problem is the only viable, long-term solution. We need to eliminate our use of plastics before they ever end up in our landfills and oceans.
As travellers, we can reduce single-use plastics in many ways.
- Use a refillable water bottle.
- Carry a reusable shopping bag
- Say no to disposable straws and cutlery.
- Use your own toiletries and carry them in reusable containers.
- Support eco-friendly establishments.
In addition, the simple gesture of picking-up trash in a place you’re visiting goes a long way in respecting the local community, and ensures a more enriching travel experience for everyone.
Some hotels, airlines and cruises care about their plastic use, many do not. One thing we know for certain is they won’t make it a priority unless we do.
We are proud to donate 5% of all profits to our partner Plastic Change, a Danish environmental organization working hard to break the exponential growth of plastic pollution on a global scale. Their focus is on industry education and political activism to ensure the root of the plastic problem is properly identified and eradicated.
* The "Problem" images courtesy of https://www.ecolife.zone/reducing-single-use-plastics/