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how to ditch bottled water on holidays

How to ditch bottled water on holidays

Posted on July 20, 2020September 26, 2022

Another post about bottled water! I thought I’d follow up to last week’s post about a documentary that sums up the downsides of bottled water. Today I want to talk about a something that I found challenging when just started a zero waste lifestyle: avoiding bottled water on holidays. But I found a way. Here’s how you can ditch bottled water on holidays.

Holidays

Back in the days I used to go on holidays by plane. Far away, mostly to Turkey and Egypt. A few years ago, I decided to stop flying because of the massive impact it has on our planet. The climate crisis is here and I want to do everything in my power to tackle it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t go on holidays any longer, I still do! For example to Albufeira last summer. I just travel differently! This means I still come in foreign countries where tap water is not safe to drink for Dutch people and I had to find a way to ditch bottled water on holidays. If you’re not sure whether you can drink tap water on your holiday, this a (Dutch) site where you can check on each country and region.

A bottle with a filter

It bugged me to use bottled water on holidays. All that plastic waste! But it was the only way. I would never risk anything or compromise my health. So I just drank bottled water. Until I found the solution one day! A special type of bottle with a filter. This probably sounds familiar to hikers and campers or any person who goes outdoors a lot, but I had never heard of it before haha! My dad and I mostly went to all-inclusive resorts so I have some skills to improve on the outdoor life haha (which is my responsibility and not his obviously). Anyway, back to that bottle. There are multiple brands out there, I have Brita and I am very happy with it! I have never gotten sick from drinking the water and it’s easy to use.

Brita

If you buy a water bottle with a filter, I would personally suggest buying one secondhand, since that is the most sustainable option when purchasing. My Brita is new unfortunately, because I found out about it one day before my holiday and so my only options were to buy it new at a local store where they had it in stock (Ekoplaza) or find one after my holiday. I chose to buy it new that day so I could use it on my holiday.

how to ditch bottled water on holidays

How to use it

So here’s how it works. It is fairly easy. The bottled basically consist of four parts. The bottle, a filter, the nozzle and a lid. What you do is: you place the filter between the bottled and nozzle. Then you can just fill your bottle like you would normally do, but now when you drink it the water gets filtered! Easy peasy. Clean water all around the world!

This way, you can use tap water anywhere and there is no need to buy bottled water ever again. You do however need to change the filter after a while. But since I only use it on holidays, I think the waste will be minimal. The filters are made out of coconut shells, but I have e-mailed BRITA about the recyclability of the filters and they say they should go to landfill. It’s a big bummer, but since they’re made out of coconut shells I think this is better than using plastic bottles.

Big things can’t be compensated

From a sustainability point of view this is a small step. If you’re new to a sustainable lifestyle or don’t know where to start, read this book first (along with this post about an eco-positive lifestyle). It explains the 10 things that you can do best for the climate crisis. Ditching the airplane is a big one for example. Living a zero waste lifestyle is not in the top 10. Therefore I would recommend to focus on the 10 big things that make the biggest impact. So if you could choose between flying but using the Brita on your holidays or going on holiday by train without using the Brita, choose the latter. It’s just a matter of impact.

I have seen people flying to Bali to pick up litter for 4 weeks there. I am not against that, I am just saying that it’s not the way to go. This does not mean that the Brita is not important, it’s just less important. I would recommend on focusing on the big areas first (like when I decided to ditch the plane) and then to the smaller areas (like when I bought the Brita). Don’t get me wrong, all effort is great! But you want it make a big change, right? This way we make the biggest chance of tackling the climate crisis together!

Disclaimer: of course this is an odd time to share things about holidays. We’re in the midst of the coronacrisis and it’s recommended to stay in The Netherlands. Unfortunately, I do see people around me traveling to foreign countries and that’s why I decided to still share this.

How do you ditch bottled water on holidays?

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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ABOUT ME

 

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Ik ga dit jaar weer de challenge aan om de winter door te komen zonder de warming aan te zetten. Hiervoor ging mijn essential, een warmwaterkruik 💦, kapot. In deze reel laat ik je zien hoe ik een ‘nieuwe’ tweedehands kruik kocht. Vandaag te lezen op whenateengoesgreen.com: een inspirerende documentary over Greta Thunberg: I am Greta. Een documentaire over hoop, maar vooral over doorzettingsvermogen 🔥. Lees het nu via de link in mijn bio. Meer vegan producten in de schappen, yay! Gisteren probeerde ik voor het eerst de vegan lentil tikki masala saus van Patak’s 🧑🏼‍🍳. Zie in deze reel wat ik ervan vond. Vandaag verscheen er een nieuw artikel op mijn blog over: 5 dingen die ik niet koop. Want we denken vaak dat we dingen écht nodig hebben, maar vaak is dat niet zo 🧠. Check het artikel via de link in miijn bio. Vorige week verscheen er een artikel op mijn blog over alles wat ik nieuw kocht in 2022. Dat is een groot deel van mijn negatieve impact. Deze week was het tijd om te kijken naar de andere kant van de medaille. Vandaag lees je op mijn blog een artikel over al mijn positive impact in 2022 🌞. Je vind de link naar het artikel in de link in mijn bio. Afgelopen week verscheen er op mijn blog een artikel over alles wat ik nieuw heb gekocht in 2022. Eén ding op de lijst waren deze onderbroeken (een stuk of 20). En nu denk je misschien: waarom zou je in één keer zoveel onderbroeken kopen? Op 31 december, nog net op de valreep in 2022, kwam er een video online op mijn Youtube-kanaal over voedselcoöperaties. Ik denk namelijk dat voedselcoöperaties ons voedselsysteem democratischer en eerlijker kunnen maken 🥦. Elk jaar stel ik mezelf als doel om geen nieuwe spullen te kopen. Er is weer een jaar voorbij, dus het was tijd om te evalueren. Is het me gelukt om in 2022 geen nieuwe spullen te kopen? 🛒 Je leest het vandaag op m’n blog. Ook tijdens het gourmetten kan je heel makkelijk vegan eten 🌱. Zie hier wat ik at als vegan op de tweede kerstdag 🎄. Gourmetten is een topoplossing als je niet uren in de keuken wilt staan. Lekkere snacks kopen, even snijden en alles neerzetten en bakken maar!

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  • Documentary: I am Greta
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  • All my new purchases in 2022
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