Don't take the toiletries from your hotel. Those are mainly plastics that will go to the landfill. Instead, fill small bottles with your own shampoo from home. For some reason, we packed our full size bottles from the shower at home and put them in Ziploc bags. (Ahhh, that's why our one bag weighed 85lb and we were given heck at the airport!) Anyway, I'm proud to say we didn't touch the hotel toiletries.
Perhaps we can all encourage hotels when we stay to source eco-friendly toiletries that use recyclable or biodegradable packaging instead.
I also noticed widespread use of Styrofoam in restaurants down here. Our hotel had a continental breakfast included each morning, but everything is disposable Styrofoam! Plates, bowls, cups — all Styro. The staff was emptying the trash bins every 20 minutes. Why not use that labour to wash proper dishes??
It was sad to see the massive amounts of landfill each day out of just that one restaurant. Actually, I felt quite guilty about our own trash consumption while on the trip. Each time we made a day trip in the car and I cleaned out everything once we returned to the hotel, it was shocking. There was so much trash from drive thru fast food, it was mind boggling. Bags, wrappings and cups for everything. What do you do? "Ya just pass me my BigMac and hold the box?" Maybe I can save my styro plate from breakfast and reuse at lunch?? ;-)
Calvin
