The Environmental Essentials – A Guide to Planning an Eco-Friendly Camping Trip

Camping is one of the rare, low-cost, high-fun activities that can be done by almost anyone, and that makes it a very important part of Australian culture. Grabbing a tent, some food, some blankets, and your friends or family, and heading out into the bush for a long weekend is almost a national pastime at this point.

Making sure you’re fully prepped and ready for your time away from civilization is of the utmost importance, as there have been plenty of injuries, missing persons, and even deaths that have resulted in being unprepared for what the Australian Outback has in store for us.

One important thing that has been getting more recognition lately, however, is taking care of the outback itself by planning eco-friendly trips when camping.

With that said, how do you differentiate between an eco-friendly trip and a normal one? Read through our guide to planning an eco-friendly camping trip to find out.

Garbage Disposal

The issue that comes to most people’s minds when they think of environmentally-conscious camping is rubbish dumping.

A relic of the past is the tendency for people to take the rubbish they generate while camping and either bury it, burn it or leave it strewn around carelessly.

This is, for obvious reasons, a bad idea and the exact opposite of what you should be doing with your rubbish at your campsite.

Gather all your rubbish as you use it for the duration of your trip, keep it in your bag or your vehicle, and take it back to civilization with you when you leave, recycling the recyclables and disposing of the trash correctly.

This is the best way to deal with your rubbish and the easiest way as well.

Food Waste

Your food waste can attract animals while you camp and after your camp, and this has some serious effects on the ecosystem. Animals have a learned tendency to avoid humans, and this helps them to stay alive in more suburban environments.

Most animals in the outback are less scared of people, but they won’t approach us due to curiosity alone, which is where food scraps come in.

Wombats, kangaroos, dingos, wild mice, birds, and even snakes can all be drawn to your food scraps, and some of these creatures can be highly dangerous to you if you’re not careful with them.

Ensure that you either keep your food scraps in an airtight container or suspended them at least two meters up off the ground, to keep the animals from entering your campsite uninvited.

Lighting Solutions

Finally, dealing with lighting in your camp is a very important issue, and some outdated methods of lighting can have negative environmental impacts.

Gas lights are often used at campsites due to their not needing electricity sources, burning brightly, and being relatively cheap to maintain and run. However, they also emit a high level of greenhouse gases due to their burning hydrocarbons and can be directly responsible for contributing to global warming.

Gas lights are very easily replaced with an led Lenser torch. These LED torches have a long life, can be powered with rechargeable batteries, and produce just as much light as a gas light without emitting harmful greenhouse gases.

With this guide, you have exactly what you need to enjoy an eco-friendly camping trip, without the hassle of figuring it out yourself step by step.