If you’re an avid outdoor adventurer or just a lover of nature, camping is the perfect way to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Just as nature gives so much to us, we should do our best to give back, by protecting the environment and not leaving too much of a footprint.
Making your summer camping trip more eco-friendly doesn’t need to be a hassle. Below are a few ideas for reducing waste and increasing sustainability, so you can spend more quality time in nature.
Camping checklist
Whether it’s a music festival or a wilderness excursion, the same basics are necessary for a good trip: shelter, somewhere warm to sleep, and food. Serving food while camping can be a haphazard affair as you avoid overloading your bags, but these biodegradable tableware saviours will keep you organised without weighing you down.
Compostable plates
Sturdy plates are a must for any camping trip. Instead of plastic plates that are bad for the environment (whether disposable or reusable), weighty metal or even ceramic tableware, palm leaf plates are the ultimate nature lover’s solution.
Strong enough to be wiped down and reused, you don’t have to bring large stacks if you’re tight for space. They’re also light enough to go unnoticed.
Another alternative are sugarcane bagasse plates. Sturdy enough to hold wet, hot, or oily food, bagasse plates are great for whatever you're roasting on the campfire.
Sustainable choices don’t have to be burdensome; the convenience of disposable tableware for group gatherings, like family camping trips, is still possible. For example, sugarcane bagasse plates can be fully composted in compost bins, breaking down completely in 1-6 months.
Biodegradable disposable cutlery
Another camping staple is cutlery, arguably more crucial than plates as even a seasoned survivalist uses utensils; it’s safer to be eating off cutlery than using your hands when clean water and soap are in short supply.
As with plates, disposable cutlery no longer needs to be a compromise that sacrifices sustainability for convenience.
Birchwood cutlery is made from renewable, fast-growing trees and nothing else. As wood has natural antibacterial properties, disposable wooden cutlery is safer to reuse than plastic, and infinitely more sustainable.
Disposable cutlery saves wasting drinking water on cleaning and eliminates the risk of introducing chemicals from detergents into your campground. It also saves having to source and carry large amounts of spare water.
Safe to be put straight into a fire pit or campfire, so no waste is left at the site or carried home, birchwood cutlery can also be composted in compost bins instead of burning.
Eating fresh whilst camping
Camping trips don’t have to mean surviving on cup-a-soups and dried pasta. If you make a fresh salad at home and pop it into reusable containers, they can be insulated or kept in a cool box to eat fresh.
Bringing a large compostable salad bowl along for the trip means you don’t have to consume all your fresh food on the first night either; you can quickly decant some into the bowl and pop it back into the cooler.
Whilst you could consume the fresh food straight out of reusable containers, bringing pam leaf tableware makes mealtime more comfortable, without taking up much space or contributing to the weight of your pack.
Assorted snack bowls
Another way to make functional camping food a little more exciting, is to use compostable bowls to lay out high-energy snacks, like nuts or dried fruit, for nibbling as you set up camp.
You can reuse the bowls to hold toasting marshmallows in the evening, snuggled around the campfire.
Biodegradable serving platters
Camping in a large group with basic tableware can make serving food for everyone tricky. Compostable palm leaf serving platters can be used to hold food once it has been cooked on the camping stove or barbecue, as a sturdy but attractive way of freeing up cooking space and allowing everyone to serve themselves safely.
Sustainable straws
If you’re at a music festival and want to keep things chic, but can’t guarantee cleanliness, disposable wheat straws could be the answer. Biodegradable wheat straws boast many sustainable features; they’re repurposed from wheat harvests, completely compostable and contain no harmful chemicals.
With the added bonus of being incredibly lightweight, you could bring a supply to last the weekend and more without noticing a difference to your bags. They’re water resistant, so won’t fall apart in your drink, and are robust enough not to be damaged in your luggage on that long walk to camp.
FOOGO Green’s reusable bamboo straws come with a cleaning brush which makes for quick, easy cleaning, even out in the wild. Bamboo is naturally anti-microbial, ensuring an extra level of sanitation, even if a thorough clean isn’t possible.
To reduce individual plastic bottle use, bring refillable drinks bottles and use your own straws.
Your summer camping trip is taken care of
Be responsible when out enjoying the wonders of nature: opt for solar chargers to avoid batteries, and always strive to bring your litter home with you.
Looking for more ways to host an eco-friendly event or organise a responsible excursion? Our blog contains a variety of ideas to inform sustainable choices, from plastic-free parties to disposable plates for a barbecue.