Catherine and David try to reduce their environmental footprint.
Travelling though remote Australia leaves most grey nomads feeling awed by the sheer beauty of their country … and often feeling more than a little protective towards it.
It’s the reason so many long-term caravanners and motorhomers travel with bags to pick up other people’s litter or are so outraged by the vandalism and graffiti they sometimes encounter. It’s also why more travellers are asking how they can ‘do the right thing’ on the road.
Grey nomads Catherine and David Miller, who are currently halfway through a five-month trip in their Mazda BT 50 towing an Avan Aspire 555, are among them.
“Let’s face it, I drive a big 4WD towing a caravan so I already have a terrible environmental footprint,” said Dave. “But I think most people want to step up and do what they can to keep this fantastic country of ours in pristine condition for future generations of grey nomads.”
He identifies things like recycling as ‘low hanging fruit’ where it is not difficult to make a difference. Last year while doing a ‘half lap’ across the Nullarbor, up the west coast to Darwin and then down the Centre through Coober Pedy and Broken Hill, Dave and Catherine were struck by how hard it was to get recyclable materials into recycling.
“Between the two of us drinking a couple of cans or bottles of soft drink, and a couple of bottles of water every day, you are quickly talking about hundreds of items of waste that could easily end up in landfill,” Dave said. “Where there are no recycling services we accumulate cans and glass and plastic bottles in the back of the BT 50 until we can find somewhere that offers recycling … every trip, we bring home large bags of recyclable materials that we put into the yellow bins at home.”
However, Dave says he understands why not all travellers follow this example as ‘trying to clean cans and bottles so you don’t end up with an ant problem, and the simple issue of space, can make it a bit of a logistic problem if you are travelling for a while’.
Dave and Catherine say that if a caravan park or campsite was able to advertise itself as being ‘recycling friendly’, they would certainly make that a consideration in selecting a stopping point. The couple has also sought to reduce ‘water bottle waste’ by installing water filters in their caravan and rely on a 10-litre ‘wine cask’ type water jug to refill their bottles where they think the water may be a bit ‘suspect’.
“Even simple things like using ‘Earth Choice’ brand dish and clothes washing concentrate that uses biodegradable materials and comes in a 100% recycled plastic bottle, and Portaloo treatment that has no added phosphates and comes in a recyclable container all make a difference,” said Dave.
• Do you try to minimise your environmental footprint while on the road? How? Comment below.
What a crock of the brown stuff.
We live full time in our caravan.
We don’t drink bottled water. We rarely drink soft drinks.
Our van is maybe 5% of the volume of our last house to heat and cool, so uses significantly less energy.
Most of the power in our van comes from solar.
Yes, we tow with a diesel vehicle. I use less fuel doing that than I used to in commuting to work every day.
Our environmental footprint is just fine, thank you very much!
From what I have noticed, I’m sure the vast majority of Grey Nomads try to do the right thing, the main issue being the lack of recycle bins.
My wife and I are also annoyed at the rubbish and graffiti. We have the laws in place we just need more enforcement of the laws to get the message out there.
The latest is that most recyclable items into the yellow lid bins end up in landfill now.
This is because the Asian countries have send back all our rubbish and won’t accept anymore. This has overloaded the system here that can’t cope with the volume…quick decisions need to be made as the whole system is on verge of collapsing.
It really is simple. Just don’t buy so many plastic bottles. Refill and reuse. It’s not hard. And people shouldn’t be drinking softdrink anyway. Especially while you’re sedentary (driving long trips). Think of all that sugar killing you. Just drink water and do your body (and the environment) a favour.