Tourism and zero-waste journey

Very rarely do we have waste problems; we have creative thinking problems.—Kathryn Kellogg

 

The policy of zero waste simply means that human activities must be monitored on an individual as well as a public level to reduce to zero through creative ways the harmful human imprint on the environment patches humans inhabit or visit. In one's own native land, ideally one is expected to be vigilant or made so to mitigate the harm one causes to the surroundings. However, it's a psychologically adaptive trait of humans that in an alien land they tend to go lax in their consumeristic attitude.

The need for awareness about zero-waste human activities originates when humans shun their community role and hanker after individualistic pursuits of ease, comfort and self-sufficiency. When humans think that their seemingly minuscule individualistic actions don't bear any impact on their environment, collective life or existence on this earthly abode, actually, they are the victim of a fatal fallacy of ignoring the butterfly effect - faintest tweaks in initial conditions can cause unwieldy ripple effects in complex systems like weather or economies. Also, they are ignorant of human interconnectedness as stressed by the South African philosophy of Ubuntu that says: I am because we are.

On the global scale, rich and developed countries mostly belonging to Europe, America and the Arabian Peninsula face the menace of travel waste, as they are the ultimate destination of students, tourists, businessmen and pilgrims. The global tourism industry is experiencing a boosting bump owing to falling air travel prices and a growing global middle class: tourism is increasing at the rate of 3-5% per year.

As per a review of 160 nations conducted by the University of Sydney, published in Nature Climate Change, the greenhouse emissions from tourism, mostly by domestic travellers, were highest in the United States, China, Germany and India. Alister Doyle of Reuters writes in the World Economic Forum, quoting scientists: "Tourism is responsible for a twelfth of world greenhouse gas emissions, and a vacation boom is complicating a global drive to slow climate change."

More than any other human activity, tourism, despite being a major economic driver, is contributing to immigrant waste. Single-use plastics from airport food courts, disposable toiletries in hotels, ticket stubs, brochures and the ineluctable packing from snacks eclipse the economic factor, as they cause more harm than benefit by littering the landscape and disturbing the balance of our ecosystem.

To plan a zero-waste travel adventure, the willingness to venture on zero-waste travel is the prerequisite. It will help reduce the amount of waste produced directly or indirectly during our travel journeys. It is said that 'Zero waste initiatives divert 90 per cent or more of all waste produced through reuse of materials, recycling, upcycling and composting.' As starters, one must pledge to oneself, "I will try my best to avoid all single-use plastics." Around 5 trillion plastic bags are used annually for shopping.

A contemporary precedent is the eco-blogger Kathryn Kellogg, author of 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste. She always keeps a small jar with her to put in all the unavoidable waste, like receipts or food stickers, at the end of her travels for disposing of properly. Also an advocate of minimalism - to keep one's earthly possessions at a minimum - she writes in her books and posts on her website the tips for a minimalist lifestyle. Minimalism and zero waste both discourage excessive consumerism.

Humans gravitate towards the one-timeability in their spree mode induced by travelling. A little ethical responsibility emerging from the feeling of being a world citizen can motivate one towards reusability. For instance, reusable water bottles, thermal mugs and cotton bags can reduce the single-use waste piling up in the landfills and oceans.

Similarly, opting for destinations accessible by train or bus, choosing non-stop flights and preferring hybrid or electric vehicles for road travel curtail the proliferation of waste countrywide or worldwide. Multinational companies dealing in mineral water must set up their counters at airports or bus stops to provide the refill for the customers' own flasks. The beverages companies must shift to biodegradable plastic bottles, as their current plastic bottles don't disappear easily from the face of the earth.

Our luggage decides how much waste we will generate on our trips. Every traveller must arrange a zero-waste travel kit and tick its checklist before going on a trip. The essentials of the travel kit must include a reusable insulated water bottle, a coffee cup or tumbler, stainless steel or bamboo cutlery, cloth napkins, a reusable shopping tote, a small Mason jar or collapsible container for leftovers, solid toiletries, and toothpaste tablets instead of plastic tubes.

Takeaway packaging is also a major contributor to waste. Dine-in can outmode disposable boxes. Taking surplus food from your table at the restaurants must never be frowned upon. Look for eco-conscious cities and compost-friendly restaurants. Always avoid products that are bound to become a waste in your environment. Being the first to refuse plastic straws or using your own cup sets precedents and normalises zero-waste habits.

Travelling offers us opportunities to be lost in the outer world, minimising our addiction to social media, but we do the opposite. Needless sharing of selfies and images and video calls from trips and tours causes a digital carbon footprint - greenhouse emissions through the energy consumption of the Internet infrastructure. Pilgrimages ought to be an analogue journey in a digitised world. We are blind to the digital waste, its impact on nature, and the production rate which is much higher than that of the physical waste. A single tweet generates 0.2 grams of greenhouse emissions. We have created giant digital landfills that are fuelling global warming at an ever-increasing rate.

"Take only memories, leave only footprints" would become contextually beautiful if tweaked as "Take memories, leave no waste". Such a realisation would discourage individualistic and extremist mentalities, as it would promote "live and let live", transforming parochial individuals into world citizens. Abiding by zero-waste advertises one's nationality abroad. It's our contribution both to our patriotism and globalism.