Lightweight luggage and environmentally friendly suitcases and bags – you can also pack your suitcase sustainably. We show you a packing list with these tips on how to pack your suitcase better. If you have some waiting time at the airport, although having only a small bag, try out our casino demo.
Whether it’s the beach in Spain, skiing in the Alps or a city trip to Rome or Paris: going on vacation is great. What’s less nice is that it’s not always sustainable and environmentally friendly.
But everyone can do something to keep their ecological footprint as small as possible when traveling. It starts with packing your suitcase – our packing list for your vacation shows you how.
Our Tips
Tip 1:
Make a packing list for your vacation
Our first tip sounds banal: write a packing list for your vacation. Honestly, when was the last time you did that?
We usually pack everything we think we might need – without checking whether it’s really necessary. However, everything we pack unnecessarily has to be transported by plane, bus and train. This increases the climate-damaging emissions of the means of transportation.
So find out in advance exactly how your accommodation is equipped, what the usual weather conditions are at the time of travel and what items you absolutely need at your destination. And only then write your packing list – preferably a few weeks before the start of your vacation.
The packing list only contains what you really need. This also gives you enough time to get any missing items. You can find good packing lists for every purpose on packlisten.org, for example.
Tip 2:
Pack environmentally friendly suitcases
Your packing list for your vacation is written, now it’s time to pack your suitcase. But wait – what about the suitcase itself? It’s chic and trendy, practical, light and spacious. But not usually sustainable. Cheap items are often produced in the Far East, under poor working conditions and with toxic chemicals.
Of course, you shouldn’t throw away a suitcase or bag that you already have. But if you are thinking about buying a new one:
Look for a manufacturer such as Vaude or Patagonia, for example, who value sustainability and in some cases offer repairs for their products.
There are also fair travel bags from hecho, manbefair or thinkung mu.
Suitcases and luggage made from recycled materials are also exciting, for example from Dakine (plastics) or Kapron (recycled leather).
Lightweight weekenders are available from Upcycling Deluxe, Globe Hope (vegan) or Milchmeer Ecobags, for example.
Or you can rent a suitcase for the duration of your trip, for example on koffermieten.de, via rental platforms or from a friend – this is more environmentally friendly than buying one for two weeks a year.
By the way: having your suitcase wrapped in plastic film at the airport is of course not good for the environment – and usually not even necessary. If necessary, a reusable luggage strap will do.
Tip 3:
Shorten your packing list = lighter luggage
Minimalists take over! The less luggage and the lighter the suitcase, the less fuel consumption by plane, train, car or long-distance bus.
So take your packing list for your vacation and try to shorten it. Do you really need five different pairs of pants, or would three be enough? Do you need to take the elegant evening dress with you or will the simpler beach dress do for the evening? Three bikinis or just one? How many T-shirts and pairs of socks do you really use on vacation? Wouldn’t a pair of gloves, a scarf, a hat and a pair of boots suffice in winter?
Minimalism has another advantage: you can finish packing your suitcase faster.
Tip 4:
Avoid environmental polluters from the bathroom
Almost every hotel has small soaps and bottles of shampoo or shower gel. Very practical since safety regulations only allow 100 milliliters of liquid in hand luggage when flying. And the contents of the suitcase are protected from leaking shampoo bottles even if you don’t have any with you.
However, this is not at all sustainable. The soaps and shampoos you have used will be thrown away after your departure and the plastic bottles will not be reused.
Alternative 1: Take a small bottle home with you and keep refilling it at home with your own products.
Alternative 2: Use solid shampoo soap. Nothing leaks out and the soaps don’t produce any packaging waste. By the way: There are also shaving soaps for men, so the shaving foam doesn’t have to go in the suitcase.
