As today is Monday, April 22, 2024, the theme for Earth Day 2024 today is to call for “a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040” — but even though they may not fit the theme, you can take some actions which may be related to travel that will help the environment.
5 Simple Things You Can Do While You Travel: Earth Day 2023
Without further ado, the five simple things you can do while you travel — with links to articles for additional information and details — are as follows:
1. Where to Get Free Air For Tires On Your Rental Vehicle.
When driving your own personal vehicle around the area where you live and work, you likely know of the best places to fill it up with fuel and to put air in your tires to keep them properly inflated — you might even own your own air pump — but when renting a vehicle while traveling, you can use a certain tool which helps you find places where you can fill up the tires free of charge, which thereby saves you money on fuel while contributing less pollution to the environment.
2. Recycle Single Use Plastic Bottles.
Forget those silly and confusing recycling symbols for plastic bottles: recycling single use plastic bottles does not necessarily mean throwing one in a designated recycling bin and hoping that it will become reincarnated as a useful item for someone else. In fact, the very concept of recycling plastic is controversial at best. Rather, simply use a single use plastic bottle filled with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, or moisturizing skin lotion until the product inside has been exhausted — and then refill it and use it again for your travels.
An increasing number of lodging establishments are currently using bulk dispensers for such toiletries as shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and moisturizing skin lotion; so this option is becoming less prevalent.
3. Clean the World by Recycling Used Soap.
Thousands of bars of used soap — as well as small plastic bottles of toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, mouthwash and skin cream — can be discarded from one single hotel property daily. Find out in this article how Clean the World gives those discarded soap bars — as well as the aforementioned single use plastic bottles — a second life.
4. 6 Ways to Conserve Water.
Access to fresh water is something which many people around the world take for granted. For example, guests automatically expect hot water in the bathrooms of rooms at hotel and resort properties — so much so that the question was asked as to whether a guest who is in a room without hot water for a shower or bath should be compensated. Find out what are the six ways in which you can conserve water.
5. Conserve Energy and Fuel.
Leave as few electronics and lights on as possible when leaving a room at a hotel or resort property. If you have enough clean towels and really do not need housekeeping services, have members of the staff come the next day to take care of the room. Just because electricity may be included at no extra charge in the room rate does not mean that it should be needlessly wasted.
Be efficient with climate control systems in hotel rooms. For example, do not leave the window shade or curtains open and allowing the hot rays of the sun to shine strongly into the room while the air conditioner is operating; and do not keep the door to the room open while heating the room.
Also, take routes that help to conserve fuel when driving a rental vehicle; and do not leave the motor vehicle idling for more than 30 seconds —except when in traffic.
Final Boarding Call
Caring for the environment does not mean one has to panic about global warming, block roads, and otherwise act like a lunatic. Doing your part with simple little things will help and can potentially go a long way — like waiting until approaching a container for the disposal of trash rather than simply littering. Not using more water, energy, or fuel than necessary is another way to help conserve natural resources.
Common sense — not fanaticism — is what will allow us to strike the best balance between traveling with a lifestyle of conveniences while simultaneously doing our parts to conserve our resources, protect our environment, and preserve the planet.
As the theme for Earth Day 2024 is to call for “a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040”, the snowball effect is definitely occurring, as more states in the United States and more countries around the world are adopting ordinances and enacting laws to reduce the use of plastic — but are the initiatives actually reducing the amount of plastic waste around the world?
Other articles pertaining to plastic waste and recycling include:
- Ban of Single Use Plastic Toiletries at Hotels Now In Effect in South Korea
- Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles Now Banned At This Airport
- The First Airline to Eliminate Plastic Cups in the United States Is…
- Single Use Plastic Toiletry Bottles at Hotels to Become Illegal in Hawaii?
- Ban of Single Use Plastic Toiletry Bottles at Hotels to Become Law in New York
- Alaska Airlines Eliminates Plastic From Its Water Service Aboard Airplanes
- Is There Any Hope For Plastic Recycling? Earth Day 2021
- Earth Day 2020: Clean the World by Recycling Used Soap and Plastic Bottles
- Earth Day 2020: Should Single Use Plastics Be Eliminated at Hotels Worldwide After All? 2019 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic
- Accor to Eliminate Single Use Plastics Worldwide in All Hotels By 2022
- Hyatt Hotels Corporation to Replace Smaller Plastic Amenities Packages and Water Bottles Worldwide
- Ban of Single Use Plastic Toiletry Bottles at Hotels to Become Law in California
- Bulk Amenities to Replace Bathroom Miniature Packages Across All Brands of Marriott International, Incorporated
- Bulk Amenities to Replace Bathroom Miniature Packages Across All Brands of InterContinental Hotels Group
- Miniature Toiletry Bottles in Hotels: What Really Should Be Done
- Wall Mounted Dispensers Versus Small Bottles of Amenities in Hotels
- Sale of Single Use Disposable Plastic Water Bottles Banned by San Francisco International Airport
- We Ingest Enough Plastic to Eat One Credit Card Per Week
- Single Use Plastic Toiletry Bottles at Hotels to Become Illegal in New York?
- Single Use Plastic Toiletry Bottles at Hotels to Become Illegal in California?
- Stupid Tip of the Day: Use Recycling Bins Whenever Possible
- Earth Day 2019: Clean the World by Recycling Used Soap and Plastic Bottles
- Earth Day 2018: Clean the World by Recycling Used Soap and Plastic Bottles
- Earth Day 2017 — and What Hilton is Doing to Help Save the Environment
- …and the Overpackaging of Hotel Amenities Award Goes To…
All photographs ©2017, ©2019, ©2020, ©2022, and ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
