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Plastic-Free July: The Traveler Edition

by Theresa Christine Johnson on 07/17/2019 | 6 Minute Read

When Dieline approached me about doing a no-plastic traveler piece, I wanted to say no. 

I'm not a heartless, ocean-destroying monster—but I knew well before I even stepped foot in the airport and handed over my passport at security, how hard it would be. 

That is, I thought I knew. 

I impulsively took on this assignment the evening before a 20+ hour, 3-flight journey to Palermo, Italy. Had I planned better, I would have purchased some helpful items in advance (more about those soon).

Before I left, I made some ground rules for the journey. “Avoid plastic” was, of course, number one, but I also decided my plastic-free promise shouldn't prevent me from having any kind of unique cultural experience. I  only envisioned this in regards to food (as in an astounding scoop of gelato)—but if a once-in-a-lifetime encounter came along, I would take part. That's what travel is all about after all. 

No-Plastic Traveling Starts Before the Traveling

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Because single-use plastic is a go-to material, it would not suffice to go with the flow—if I wanted to avoid single-use plastics on this journey, I'd need to prepare. 

I travel a lot, multiple times a month usually, but it wasn’t until I put in some extra attention concerning my plastic use on the road that I noticed how many places I could improve. As I began packing, I realized my quart-sized baggie for 3-oz toiletries was a problem. While I make a point to reuse the containers and the bag until I can no longer use them anymore, this was an opportunity where I should have gotten a reusable silicone bag instead and looked into refillable toiletries from places like Lush.

In other areas, though, I felt more ready with useful items—my reusable straws and vacuum-insulated water bottle would come in handy. Italy’s water is safe to drink, but for my trips where they discourage tap water, I also have a LifeStraw bottle up my sleeve.

Plastics at the Airport

There’s no easy way to put this: the airport is one big single-use plastic destination all on its own. Needless to say, in this category, I failed miserably. 

I partially blame LAX, and honestly, I think a lot of US airports are the same because practically every option came wrapped in plastic—even apples! But two items I wish I’d purchased in advance were a reusable, easy-clean utensil and some reusable silicone sandwich bags for plane snacks. Both would have helped me at least lessen my use of plastic at the airport.

In general, I don’t like packing and bringing a full-on meal to the airport. TSA has gotten even pickier about what food items they allow—in the past, I have had to unwrap sandwiches, and show them that I do, in fact, have a sandwich and not a sandwich-shaped explosive. Also, it’s nice to have something a little more freshly prepared to eat at the airport or tote onto the plane (I often get salads which are just sort of awkward to carry around for hours before enjoying). 

And the big reason? It’s just more convenient. I’m a consumer, damn it, and having some food options at the airport makes my life easier.

I do, however, recognize these are all excuses. 

If I really want to commit to plastic-free traveling, I should have packed items like an apple (er, not wrapped in saran wrap, though), a wrap, and nuts or cheeses. Instead, for my on-plane snack choices to purchase in the LAX terminal, I was greeted by shelves upon shelves of food packaged in plastic. Pretty much the only thing not free of plastic was a banana, which I did get, but my fruit and veggie box and smoothie packs did not qualify.

To add to this, I sat down in a restaurant at LAX to get some breakfast versus ordering it to go—no, my snacks wouldn’t be plastic-free, but at least the most important meal of the day could be! While traveling doesn’t always allow time to sit down to eat, I had a bit of a buffer before my departing flight so I snagged a seat. Of course, my oatmeal arrived not on actual dishware but in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon. This was honestly the most disheartening moment for me because I felt so clever sitting down instead of ordering carryout. I hoped that my experience on the plane might be better.

Try Going Plastic-Free at 10,000 Feet

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For short flights, I’d argue it’s not too challenging to avoid plastic—ask the flight attendant for some water in your bottle to forgo the disposable cup and straw, and get on your merry way. Of course, things become more complicated when your flight lasts longer than a couple of hours (or when you want something other than H2O to drink).

On my transatlantic flight, like on most long-haul flights in economy, I found a plastic-wrapped blanket waiting in my seat. The flight attendant wandered around before takeoff to ask if anyone needed a pair of headphones, also wrapped in plastic (I, however, have my own). I had a hunch, too, my meal would involve a lot of single-use plastic. Spoiler alert: it did.

Again, more food preparation would have helped me out here, although there is something to be said about enjoying a hot meal halfway through a long day, or more, of travel. I don’t like airplane food that much, but warm pasta satisfies me a little bit more than baby carrots for an entire trip. Also, with international flights that include transfers, it’s impossible to bring meals for the whole journey because there are often regulations about what food can enter a country. So if I have to choose between snacking on a slightly too-warm sandwich that got smooshed in my backpack and possibly risked me getting detained in customs or eating a glorified tv dinner mid-flight, I’ll choose the latter.

On the Ground

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Once I arrived at my destination, it felt like avoiding single-use plastic was much more in my control. I could take a lot of the same precautions I would if were at home—asking for beverages without straws (which I do still sometimes forget and am trying to make a better habit), taking my water bottle around and refilling it as needed as opposed to buying water bottles, and sticking souvenirs into my own bag rather than requesting a plastic one from the shop.

Finding laundry detergent not packaged in plastic was a challenge, and in that case, convenience won out—I didn’t pack any to save space, and I wasn’t about to spend my holiday going into every convenience store looking for some. In retrospect, some laundry detergent sheets might have taken up little space and done the trick. I also did use some hotel toiletries. While a few places I stayed had refillable soap rather than an individually wrapped bar, next time I’m traveling with these soap sheets for handwashing.

Is plastic-free travel possible?

Plastic is a valuable material that should be used for things like getting nutritious foods to people who might starve otherwise, not for wrapping apples at an airport. Yet the default packaging I encountered at the airport and inflight was plastic, meaning there exists an immense, exciting opportunity for an eco-friendly solution. And this year we’ve already seen some progress: Delhi’s IGI airport will eliminate single-use plastic by the end of 2019, and Hi Fly had the first plastic-free flight

For my journey, there are a lot of things I could have/should have done differently, and I now have a whole shopping list to prepare for my next trip in order to cut down (and maybe one day eliminate) my use of plastics while traveling. That said, for long-haul flights I really feel like I’m at the whim of the airport and airline, and pledging to go plastic-free for the trip will likely involve some failures along the way—it certainly did for me.

But at a certain point, I wonder: why is this responsibility solely on me? Yes, I know the number of disposable straws I avoid using on a plane won’t make a significant dent in the plastics of the world, but I still use my reusable straw because it’s the right thing to do. So when will brands, and the travel industry as a whole, do the right thing?