Rick Crawford
As previously mentioned in Plastic-Free Camping in Everglades National Park: Part 1, a few friends I grew up with from Savannah, GA get together for an annual fishing and camping trip to Everglades National Park. It’s a great escape as there is no cell phone service, the landscape is utterly unique and the fishing is excellent. It’s a highly anticipated event, and I highly recommend it if you’ve never been. However, this year I started thinking about how much single-use plastic and waste is generated on these camping trips. I always practice leave no trace principles and recycle everything I accumulate while camping, but is it even necessary to buy items that are single-use in the first place?
The reason I wanted to see if I could go single-use plastic-free camping is because plastic pollution is becoming a serious threat to fisheries around the world. In fact, it is estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean in 30 years!!! The plastic pollution problem is scarier when you consider a growing population combined with how many people around the world depend on the ocean as a source of protein. So, my goal was to refuse single-use plastics on this camping trip in an effort to create more awareness about the impact single-use plastic is having on our fisheries. Also, because I want to protect what I love, and we were fishing in a place that I love, I wanted to draw more attention to the gross mismanagement of Florida’s water resources causing toxic algal blooms and massive fish kills in South Florida by not sending the water south to the Everglades. (To learn more, please visit: www.gladesdeclaration.org and sign the Now Or Neverglades Declaration!)
Single-Use Plastic-Free Grocery Shopping Checklist
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- Reusable Shopping Bags: I refused single-use plastic bags by bringing my own reusable bags.
- Buy in Bulk: I avoided single-use plastic containers that snacks like nuts or trail mix usually are packaged with, and I bought them in bulk by using mason jars I had at my house. An additional bonus to buying nuts and trail mixes was that we usually would bring potato chips as snacks for the boat, but trail mix was not only a healthier alternative, but gave us more energy which is helpful when fishing 10-12 hours a day.
- Pay Attention to Packaging: mother nature already “packaged” its bounty with no plastic, so don’t buy fruits wrapped in plastics! I went with a watermelon and bananas (no bananas in the boat of course!). Also, I bought instant grits which were packaged in cardboard and individual paper pouches as well as a couple of containers of Liquid Egg Whites, which did have a plastic screw-top lid. I bought the eggs in containers because I didn’t want to travel with fragile egg shells. However, I could have avoided the plastic screw-top lid by purchasing eggs in their shells and boiling them before leaving, but hind-sight is 20/20, so next time…
- Buy Local: I went to the farmer’s market and picked up some local veggies for the trip, and bought a loaf of locally made bread and put it in a tupperware container for peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches on the boat. The peanut butter and the jelly came in glass containers which could either be recycled or reused.
- Use Tupperware: I also bought some locally made sausages, which I brought a tupperware container so the butcher could use instead of wrapping in plastic and paper and my buddy brought some duck sausage and venison. For sides, I picked up some canned vegetables like succotash, okra and tomatoes, etc., which are recyclable.
- Avoid Plastic Toiletries: I bought a bamboo toothbrush, found some floss that came packaged in cardboard, and used Dr. Bronner’s All in One soap for showers that was packaged in paper to refuse single-use plastics. I even picked up some deodorant that was packaged in glass, but still had a plastic lid. However, I was unable to find any toothpaste not packaged in the plastic tubes they all come in. Suggestions, anyone? I also bought toilet paper made from recycled materials and packaged in paper. I purchased some sunscreen that is reef-safe, and packaged in an aluminum can, but did have a plastic spray lid.
Reusable bags, buying in bulk and buying local are good standard practices whether you are camping, or not. However, what was most eye-opening was taking the time to pay attention to all of the plastic packaging that our food comes packaged and wrapped in. Next time you are in the grocery store do a 360 and it is an entire store quadruple wrapped in plastic! In some cases it was even difficult to find food that was not wrapped in plastic. I think that key word is “time” when it comes to eliminating single-use plastics. Single-use plastics are convenient and functional, but if you take the few extra minutes to do a little planning you can significantly reduce single-use plastics for your next camping trip, or trip to the grocery store. is part of the problem with plastic.
A few years ago I started paying more attention to plastic as I became more educated on sustainability and it is truly mind-blowing the amount of single-use plastics that are out there. It has become so automatic that I stopped even thinking about it. Plastic bag? Sure. Plastic straw? Well it comes with the drink, right?! All my fruits wrapped in plastic? Wait…what? I was in the grocery store the other day and there was an entire display of apples and they were individually wrapped with Saran wrap! Is that really necessary? Am I the only one who is perturbed by this? Certainly not, but I do believe if we all took a couple extra minutes out of our day to make sure we are making small changes such as using reusable bags, buying local and in bulk and even something as small as using a bamboo toothbrush, we could make a tremendous impact!
I also think it is important to clarify that I am not up here on my high horse passing judgement because I am certainly not perfect, and just like everyone else, I sometimes forget my reusable bags or containers and have to opt for paper bags or buying a loaf of bread pre-packaged in plastic, but I am doing the best I can to be cognizant of the problem and do what I can to protect what I love. I hope that this blog fulfills its purpose to create more awareness about single-use plastic pollution and is helpful in making positive change.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and stay tuned as we take a look at our camping gear in Part 3 of the Plastic-Free Camping blog!