Environmentally-Friendly Camping Tips

Whether you are camping, grocery shopping, buying a birthday present, or simply running errands, there are decisions you make every day that can support a clean and healthy environment.  Some basic environmentally friendly camping tips are listed below.  You can also sign up to receive NC E-News, a bi-monthly e-newsletter that includes sustainability tips, as well as upcoming environmental volunteer opportunities/activities and recent success stories of ESNC organizations.

Leave No Trace

This is the first rule of camping.  We can best show our respect to the wildlife and the
land we are enjoying, by leaving it as it was before we visited.  A lot of things can fall into this category:

• Carry out your garbage and food scraps, and minimize your impact on the land by disturbing only what is necessary.
• Stick to the established trails when hiking, instead of creating new trails.
• When in the wilderness, be aware of ways you might impact your surroundings and avoid them.
  

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If you make this trio your mantra when camping, you will be well on your way to an environmentally friendly camping trip.    

Reduce - when making purchases for the trip, such as food, look for options that minimize packaging.  For instance, avoid buying individually packaged snacks and bottled water.  Instead you can purchase larger quantities and package the servings in reusable containers.

Reuse - package all meals and ingredients in containers that can be reused, use dishes that can be washed rather than flimsy plates that will be thrown away after your meal

Recycle - bring your recyclable containers home to recycle

Buy Recycled

There is a long list of camping related products that include recycled content such as flash lights, fleece blankets, and jackets.  You can play a role in reducing the items sent to the ever expanding landfills, by helping create the market for recycled products.  For example, why should soda bottles end up in the landfill when they can end up in a fleece jacket?

Cleaning up

For clean up after the meal use an ecologically friendly soap like Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile to lessen your impact when disposing of your wash water.

Consider your destination

While there is a lot to explore all across our great state, many great outdoor opportunities can be found close to home.  You can reduce the need for driving, and thus reduce gas usage, and air quality pollutants.