Eco Holidays

posted by Catherine on Jul 3

How much paper is wasted while you are off on your vacation?

When you think of your trip away - I bet you don’t really think about it’s impact on the paper industry?

What I mean by this is that it isn’t just the tickets and the passport that are the only important tree-based items you need to worry about. For example do you think about your insurance documents or bank statements?

I thought not.

What Have My Statements Got To Do With Anything?
Well, while you are off on holiday, I don’t think you are going to be opening your post. Am I right? So why have you bank statements sent to your home? And why print out loads of mini statements from cash points around the world if you can check your bank account details online - from almost anywhere?

If you were traveling for a long time - like 4 weeks or more, why not make sure that everything was set up with your bank to check everything online. You can transfer money between your own accounts or you can pay off bills or credit cards from other accounts - all without a single piece of paper changing hands or getting folded up in your diary or rucksack.

And if you think online banking isn’t ’safe’ - how secure so you think bits of paper are floating about your bag that you leave on top of buses or in your empty room while you are out exploring?

And, if you start using a ‘top-up credit card’ - where all the money is on it already - you don’t need statements printed out on headed paper - as you only have a certain amount on it in the first place. And, if it gets lost, you know that there is a maximum to your loss rather than the dread of some thief buying a Lear Jet with it!

What Else Can I Reduce?
Your Junk Mail can be stopped! If you are away on vacation - or whether you just want less junk mail anyhow - can stop all unsolicited mail! Think of the trees you could be saving - and the ink and energy and transport, etc.

You rarely need junk mail when you are at home anyway - but a build-up of junk mail out of your mail-box while you are away could also encourage thieves to investigate further! So get it cancelled! Apparently, the average American gets almost 560 pieces of junk mail delivered to them every year! This totals to about 100 million trees being used every 12 months just to produce the 4.5 million tons of pizza and diet pill flyers that clutter our mailboxes!

To help out here with normal mail - you can get your mail company to re-direct your mail to an alternative address for a short period of time or they may be able to store it for you until you return. That way, nothing sensitive will be sitting out there while you are away. For longer trips you can redirect your mail for up to 2 years to an alternative address at home or abroad.

You can also put a hold on most magazine subscriptions while you are away - therefore not returning home to a whole pile of out-of-date news - but having all those ‘missed’ newsletters or magazines added on to the the end of your current subscription. Also setting up any renewals by direct debit or in advance can save on all those company reminders letters being sent out for nothing.

Anything Else Here?
There are probably a whole host of other things relating to boring paperwork that you can plan better for while you are away - like not losing important documents that will need to be replaced or buying guidebooks you forget to take with you!

Things not even related to your actual trip can also help to make your vacation even more eco frindly - reducing your impact on the environment even further.