One of the most common sustainability goals that I hear from my friends is to create less waste. In particular, they want to use less plastic, which isn’t surprising. Plastic and our planet’s overflowing landfills seem to be at the forefront of many conversations these days.
We see stories about how plastic debris is found absolutely everywhere, littering our parks and campgrounds, piling up in our oceans, and killing wildlife. It’s easy to vilify plastic, especially when you see the disturbing pictures of nature’s plastic victims — adorable seals tangled in plastic bags, birds with 6-pack plastic rings stuck on their necks, and the most recent one I’ve seen, a raccoon with its head stuck in a plastic bottle.
Is All Plastic Bad?
But plastic in general isn’t all bad news. We encounter hundreds of plastic things a day. Just look around. You’re surrounded by it, just like I am. My computer, plastic. The RV cab’s dash as I look forward, plastic. The laundry basket to my right, plastic. And even the many polyester-blend clothing items inside it, yep. Those, too, are another form of plastic.
Plastic makes our lives easier and is a truly extraordinary material. So I try not to lump all plastic together in the ” you’re bad and I must avoid you ” category. Instead, I focus my attention on single-use plastics. As long-lived as plastic is, it doesn’t make sense to produce it for single-use materials. That’s why my main sustainability goal has been cutting back on single-use plastics, but I’m not stopping there. I’ve been working on eliminating anything in my life that creates unnecessary waste.
At first glance, it may appear that RVing is an eco-friendly activity, but seasoned RVers know the truth. You can create just as much, if not more, waste on an RV trip as you would at home. Over the dozen or so years my husband James and I have been RVing, we’ve slowly evolved into more sustainable RVers— though it hasn’t been easy.
How to Transition to Zero Waste RVing
We’ve come a long way since our days of buying Costco packs of plastic silverware and single-use water bottles, but it didn’t happen overnight. Looking back, we made one small change at a time, though there was never any master plan. Perhaps that’s human nature at play; the whole ‘change is hard’ thing.
Even though James and I aren’t at the ‘zero waste’ level yet, I want to share some of the easier changes we’ve made to reduce the waste we create in our RV lifestyle. I wish a decade ago someone would have presented me with a list of simple changes I could make, as perhaps it wouldn’t have taken me so long to get to the less-waste place I’m at today.
So perhaps something on this list might inspire you to create some change in your own RV lifestyle.
1. Filter your RV’s fresh water, so it’s safe to drink.
Drinking from our fresh tank means we aren’t dependent on single-use water bottles and jugs. Yes, it takes a little more work: regular tank sanitizing, heavy-duty filters, and being careful about where you fill up. But once you make it a habit, it doesn’t feel like more work. It becomes a part of your normal prep. And as a bonus, we never have to buy water!
2. Use real dishes and silverware.
I certainly remember how convenient disposable kitchenware was for RV trip meals. We were on vacation after all, so it felt great taking a vacation from doing the dishes, too! Being a steward of the environment isn’t about doing the convenient thing, though.
I like to think of it like most caretaking things in life—taking prescription meds to stay healthy, changing oil to keep your vehicle running, doing laundry so you aren’t the smelly folks in camp—there aren’t shortcuts to these things just because you’re on vacation.
So once I changed my mindset on that, I stopped playing the vacation-excuse card and went all in with using real dishes and silverware 100% of the time. I haven’t even thought about disposables in years until, well, writing this!
3. Ditch single-use sandwich baggies and plastic wrap.
These days, there are tons of eco-friendly companies making reusable food storage bags and wraps. It has made ditching the old school single-use baggies as easy placing an Amazon order.
One of the brands I use is Bees Wrap, a company out of Vermont that makes a variety of reusable food storage solutions. Their wrap is made with organic cotton, beeswax, and tree resin, giving it an almost-tacky feel and allowing it to easily conform and close around whatever you’re wrapping.
4. Swap supplies you use daily for zero-waste products.
One example: James and I buy our dish soap, hand soap, and laundry detergent from Dropps. Dropps is one of the many companies out there making all-natural plant-based refillable cleaners and shipping them in plastic-free containers—even down to the packaging tape and adhesive (also plastic-free).
We even purchased glass bottles for our Dropps soaps. So when it’s time to refill our hand soap, for example, we simply drop in a pod, add water, and we’re good to go.
5. If you go out to eat, do two things: 1) Avoid fast food. 2) Eat in.
COVID made take-out a “new normal,” but the problem with take-out is all the single-use containers it requires. That’s a challenge with fast-food restaurants too. Even if you’re dining in, most fast-food joints serve your food in single-use containers.
To avoid this, you have to embrace a different approach: choosing restaurants based on whether or not they use real dishes. It might sound limiting, but it certainly hasn’t made our trips any less fun. Besides, dining in is a great way to get to know an area. So, if you’re not cooking in, break out of the take-out habit and enjoy the restaurant experience!
6. BYOB (Bring Your Own Bags) when shopping.
While bringing your own shopping bags is becoming a requirement in many areas, you can take this a step further by bringing your own reusable produce bags too. You can also bring reusable bags for bulk items—rice, dried beans, nuts, etc.
I know how easy it is to walk by the bulk bins in favor of pre-packaged grains and nuts, but getting in the habit of buying from the bulk section and using your own bags cuts down on a surprising amount of single-use packaging.
There you have it! Six small, but doable ways to incorporate sustainability into your RV lifestyle. I know firsthand that going full zero waste is no easy feat, but it also doesn’t have to happen overnight.
Working to create a little less waste tomorrow—perhaps using some of these suggestions—is a small step in the right direction. It’s going to take all of us working together to get to a place where there’s harmony between humans and nature. But I’m hopeful we will get there. Our future generations are depending on us.
How do you reduce waste and limit the use of single-use packaging when RVing? Share your eco-friendly RV tips in the comments below!
