The one where I travel by car

Traveling via road trip is one of those times where I typically would use a lot of disposable items, mostly related to food, but also small toiletry items, paper hotel bills, bottled water, plastic bags, etc. 

Planning for traveling with less trash takes some thinking ahead, and some different choices, but it's really not that hard. Let's take a look at my thought process by category. 

Note: This post contains some affiliate links. Some are for items I bought, liked, and recommend. Other links go to items similar to things I got as gifts/swag from conferences. 

Food: 

This is the toughest. Fast food is so easily accessible and delicious, but it does generate a lot of trash. Choice is my tool here. I can choose food places that serve on reuse-able tableware. Panera is a favorite option for that reason, but there are also lots of local restaurants worth trying. Taking the time to get off the highway, and sit down at a restaurant is a good way to make less trash and enjoy the trip more. Google maps now makes it possible to find good food options that aren't within sight of the highway. And when friends tell me about good places to eat in their towns, I add those to my "want to go" saved section in Google Maps. 

Of course many places still want to hand me a plastic cup, so I plan ahead and keep a re-useable tumbler cup in my car. This comes in very handy. I can use it for a drink at a fast casual restaurant and also fill it with water in the hotel lobby. Plus, sometimes a restaurant won't even charge me for the drink if I brought my own cup. 

Snacks are readily available in bulk bins. I bring them along in canvas bags, or Stasher bags. This also helps me not spend money at convenience stores. 

Plastic utensils eventually show up in every road trip, so I bring a fork and spoon wrapped in a bandana. The silverware stays clean and the bandana is a re-useable napkin. I've never really needed a knife, but if I think I might need it I could add that to the kit. Some people like a bamboo utensil kit to save weight, but I tend to pack light enough that it's not an issue. Note: If you are getting take out food, you need to specify that you do not need utensils.

Hotels almost always have a coffeemaker and paper cups to go with it. My camping mug was an unexpected gift from an edtech vendor. I didn't think I would use it much, and then I thought about making tea in a hotel room. I would have to use a paper cup provided by the hotel to fit into the one cup machine. I remembered the camping mug and brought it along. It fit perfectly in the coffee maker, and I didn't have to trash a paper cup. One of the things I like about this mug is that it has no handle, making it easier to pack. The lid means I can use it to pack small items too. Apparently, it is hard to find one without a handle. This Yeti one is similar though. 

Water:

I mentioned filling my tumbler cup with water from the hotel lobby. On road trips I also usually bring 1-2 large water bottles that I filled at home. If needed I can refill these while traveling. Often I travel for conferences and there are usually water stations set up I can refill from. This way I never cave to the $7 bottle of water in a hotel room. (I'm not kidding. That was the actual price of the bottle in my hotel room a few weeks ago. And it was not a very fancy hotel.)

Toiletries:

Ahh, the travel sizes. They are so cute. I used to love going to the wall of bins at the drug store and paying a premium for little bottles of shampoo, sunscreen, and other assorted mini versions... of things I already owned in larger sizes. Of course I also owned cheap tiny refillable bottles that leaked sometimes. And I subscribed to one of those beauty samples boxes that sent me 5-6 small sizes of things every month, many of which became "save for travel" items. Then I would get out on the road and find out I didn't really like that product after all. 

It was in 2020 that I bought my set of Cadence capsules. Fair warning, these are pricy, but they are great for travel. I can easily fill them with the products I already use. (No more buying expensive travel sizes of items I'm not sure I'll like.) And, if I consider what I've saved by not buying travel sizes, these have paid for themselves. Plus, I always have exactly the same products I use at home. No surprises. These capsules never leak. Really, the caps fit tight and I've never had a leak issue through lots of flying and driving. They are adorable, and they magnetically stick to each other to keep them together. The lid labels are also magnetic and swap-able. 

The printing on the lids is often hard for me to read without my glasses, not ideal for the shower, so I swap the label tiles from different colored containers to create color combinations I can distinguish. Each original capsule is .56 oz, which is not large. Now, they make bigger versions too, but I have never felt the need for a larger size. 

Part of the reason some people say they want larger Cadence capsules is to carry shampoo. Since I cary a piece of a solid shampoo bar, I don't worry about that. I wrote about my favorite shampoo bars here. 

Grocery Bags: 

In any road trip there comes a time when I need to buy something, so I always cary an expandable bag. If I'm in my own car, there will also be standard sized re-useable grocery bags in the trunk, but the expandable bag is great to keep in my purse. I have a really compact one that was swag from a vendor a long time ago. I've tried to find similar versions of it to give as gifts. These were as close as I could get. I like that they come in a three pack. I put one in my daily backpack and gifted the others to family members. 

Paper: 

A lot of the paper is already out of our travel process these days anyway. Think boarding pass on your phone and hotels that email you the bill. (That sentence would make absolutely no sense to my grandmother, who was an amazing traveler in her day.) I still manage to cut a little more paper here and there, like refusing the map of the local area the hotel receptionist tried to hand me and choosing paperless receipts. 

With a little forethought, some planning, and by brining along just a few extra items, I was able to remove a lot of the trash from my road trips and make myself more comfortable in the process. 

The one with the dental floss

Yeah, it's a little thing, probably the smallest thing I throw away on a regular basis. And, to be perfectly honest, I probably have not contributed as much dental floss to landfills as my dentist would like me too. 

But, hey, every little bit counts, and it turns out there are some really easy ways to stop using plastic in my dental care routine. All of these things avoid plastic in their packaging too.

1. Bamboo toothbrushes: You probably already know about these. I've been using them for years, even before I decided to make a conscious effort to use less plastic. I haven't been entirely successful in getting the rest of my family to use them, but that may change eventually. It's been great being able to tell my dentist I don't need a new plastic toothbrush.

2. Bamboo electric toothbrush heads: These were new to me. My dental hygienist strongly encouraged me to get an electric toothbrush. I resisted because I love my bamboo toothbrushes. Then a family member bought an electric toothbrush at Costco and it came as a pack of two, because Costco. The extra one she didn't need became mine and I resigned myself to buying plastic brush heads for it. But, behold, there are bamboo replacement heads now. I've been using it for months and so far no issues. Some reviews say people don't like the feel of wood in their mouth, but I was used to using a bamboo toothbrush anyway. Eventually, I'll need some pliers to pull out the bristles and compost the brush head in our city collected organic waste bin, which I don't have yet because that program is still in it's roll out phase. 

3. Biodegradable Dental Floss: I LOVE this stuff. I even floss more regularly because I get to use this adorable little glass container with this floss that feels like it is really cleaning between my teeth. First you buy the starter kit with the tiny glass jar and three spools. Then you just need the refills after that. It took me about two months to use up my first spool, so I'd guess the starter kit is a six months supply. The refill pack has five spools. A few disclaimers, we previously bought a warehouse store pack of plastic floss, so we still have some of that to use up. Also, I have one place where my teeth are very tight. Sometimes, I can't get in there with the biodegradable floss and I have to revert to the thin plastic stuff for that corner of my mouth. The reviews that complain that the biodegradable floss is not as strong are correct. It does break sometimes in tight spaces. I can live with that. It's part of the adventure. This picture is from my first spool once it was almost used up. 

4. Dental floss picks: One member of my family prefers floss picks. He has a lot, but once he uses those up we will switch to a variety that are biodegradable. 

5. Toothpaste: I honestly use very little. I don't have a replacement to recommend here, because we haven't gotten through the supply of back stock of toothpaste we have. Seriously, we may need a year or more to go through all the toothpaste currently in our drawers. Once all of that is gone, I'll look at the options. I know there are a lot of choices. Toothpaste tablets, with and without fluoride, abound. Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions. 

I've linked to versions I bought or am considering buying next, but you may also be able to find these things near you at a local health food store or refill shop. Whenever possible I encourage you to shop locally for your #zerowaste items and support those small businesses. 

Note: This post and others includes one or more affiliate links. I usually only link to products I actually bought, use, like, and recommend. In this case, I did link to one item I plan to buy in the future. I'm a teacher. If you use one of my affiliate links, you are contributing toward books for my classroom while buying something you want anyway.

The one with the shampoo bars

 In 2021 I did a favor for a friend. It involved getting up early, waiting around, and then managing a tricky delivery. I also watered some plants in the process. But none of that is the important part. 

The important part is that my friend thanked me for this favor by sending me a great starter set from The Earthling Company. This is definitely up there in list of great gifts I was not expecting. The set included, a body bar, a face bar, a shampoo bar, a conditioner bar, a cute little wooden soap dish and a sisal soap saver bag. 

Note: That link above will get you $10 off your first order over $30. 

Conditioner, shampoo, body bar on 8" soap dish. 

Thus was my introduction to the concept that shampoo could come in a solid form. Okay, I already knew that, but I certainly had never seriously considered trying it. I loved it. That shampoo bar lasted months, and then I ordered four more. Those carried me through the rest of 2021, all of 2022, and I just started using the last one here in the beginning of 2023. So five bars have been all the shampoo I needed for the last 21 months. When the Earthling Co. says their bars last 3-4 months, they are't lying. 

And the conditioner bars last even longer. I bought equal numbers of shampoo and conditioner bars, but now I am on my last shampoo bar, and I still have two extra un-opened conditioner bars ready to use next. (One will be on the soap dish next week. The current bar is almost done.)

I am exclusively using and specifically recommending the bars from The Earthling Company. I was gifted a shampoo bar in a store from a brand whose other products I really enjoy. That shampoo bar was not a good fit for me. I did try it for a few weeks thinking any high quality shampoo bar should be the same as another. It was not  and I went right back to my Earthling shampoo bar. My hair was so much happier when I did. 

Tips: 

-I keep my bars on a long soap dish just outside my shower. See picture in this post. This keeps them drier and I think that helps them last longer. 

-I've heard people say to lather your hands and not apply the bar directly to your head. I rub the bar all over my head. It's fine. It rinses clean. 

-I don't have to wash my hair as often when I'm using this shampoo bar. I went from almost daily washing, to going at least three days and sometimes four between washes. My scalp just produces less oil. (There are actual chemical reasons for this based on the ingredients in the bar.)

-Eventually my shampoo bar always breaks in half. I keep using one half and the other half becomes my "travel size" bar. I wrap it in a scrap of fabric and throw it in my toiletry bag. It dries quickly after a use. 

-The shampoo bars travel well. I tend to not travel with the conditioner bars. They are softer and can melt in a warm car. I have a spray on, leave in conditioner that I use when I travel. 

Trash: 

-None really. The bars come in small cardboard boxes. I store them in those until I'm ready to use the bar and then I recycle the little box. I love that I can store a year's supply of shampoo and conditioner bars in less space than one shampoo bottle used to take up. 

-I am usually able to use up a bar completely. Eventually it does break into small pieces. But I just keep rubbing those around on my head until I loose them. 

A post like this should probably include a hair picture, so here is mine. I washed my hair last night and went to bed with it slightly damp. The only products I've used on it for the last two weeks have been Earthling Co. shampoo and conditioner bars.