Leave no trace: cleaning up after your outdoor adventures
Whether you’re a hiker, camper, or overlander, every outdoors enthusiast knows that leaving no trace is the ultimate goal. While the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace are fairly well-known, we want to focus on the ways you can minimise your impact after an outdoor adventure.
Unfortunately, even when our intentions are good, our presence in nature can take a toll – causing environmental damage, water pollution, trail erosion, wildfires, and more. Cleaning up after yourself is a critical step in keeping wild places wild.
Here are some things you can do to care for nature and preserve natural places for other visitors and the flora and fauna who call that habitat home…
Plan your meals to reduce waste
The easiest way to reduce the amount of rubbish left at the end of your trip is to plan ahead. The UK throws away around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste every year, which ends up in landfills and contributes heavily to greenhouse gas emissions.
Rather than contributing to this, anticipate the amount of food you’re going to need and pack accordingly. Don’t overbuy, especially perishable items, and avoid cooking more than you need. Leftovers create waste and binning uneaten food attracts wildlife to areas with human activity, which can affect their health and natural habits.
Before you leave, do a visual sweep of the site to make sure you haven’t left any organic litter like orange or banana peels, apple cores, or shells from nuts and seeds. Orange peels can take as long as two years to decompose and ‘natural’ doesn’t necessarily mean a food naturally occurs where you leave it. Remember, leave no trace.
Pack it in, pack it out
As the saying goes, “Pack it in, pack it out!” If you brought it in, it’s your responsibility to take it out again. If there aren’t any bins nearby, take your waste with you to dispose of properly later.
Try to cut down on plastic packaging wherever you can. Remove food from its packaging and store it in reusable containers to reduce the amount of rubbish you produce.
Plastic bags, six-pack rings, cigarette butts, and fishing line can all be harmful to local wildlife – don’t leave anything behind on your outdoor adventures, even if it’s not yours. If you’re a fan of the great outdoors, make every effort to leave it better than you found it.
Leave a site as you found it
When you’re camping in undisturbed or remote areas, do what you can to minimise your impact on the site and leave it as you found it. Don’t tie anything to trees, dig trenches around tents, or pick flowers. Leave natural objects where you find them – take a photo if you want to preserve a memory.
Watch where you walk to avoid trampling sensitive vegetation and don’t clear away natural litter like leaves or twigs. Also don’t move any rocks, which can cause soil erosion and disturb the insects living there.
When you leave, try to ‘naturalise’ the site. Cover any trampled areas with natural materials like leaves or pine needles. Brush out visible footprints and rake flattened grassy areas with a stick to help the site recover.
Dispose of waste properly on your outdoor adventures
If you’re out in the wilderness, with no access to modern plumbing, proper disposal of human waste is critical (and the decent thing to do). Dig a ‘cat hole’ away from your camp, the trail, and at least 60m away from a body of water. The hole should be six to eight inches deep and four to six inches in diameter to properly bury your waste.
Choose an inconspicuous site with dark, rich soil where the organic matter will help decompose your waste. Try to choose a site that’s exposed to the sun; the heat will help speed up decomposition.
A cat hole may only be used once, and you should cover the hole and disguise it with natural materials when you’re done. The same applies if you’re travelling with a pet – dispose of their waste in the same way you would yours. The ultimate goal is to prevent water contamination.
If you absolutely have to use toilet paper, use it sparingly and choose a plain white, non-perfumed brand. It can be buried in the cat hole as well, but never burned, as this can result in wildfires.
Minimise the impacts of campfires
Campfires carry a huge risk for wildfires. If you must build a fire, use an established fire ring and keep the fire small. Let the wood burn down completely to ash and only use water to extinguish a fire. Scatter the ash over a large area away from the camp.
When it comes to firewood, gather wood over a wide area and avoid chopping down standing trees (dead or alive) because they’re home to birds and insects.
Camp stoves are lightweight and efficient alternatives to a campfire, and most importantly, they leave no trace on your outdoor adventures. One-pot meals simplify your cooking requirements and also produce less mess and organic waste that might attract animals.
Use non-toxic products
Clean water is a precious resource, so contamination should be avoided at all costs. Protect sensitive ecosystems by only using non-toxic insect repellant and sunscreen, and biodegradable and eco-friendly products. Never dump your wastewater into streams or rivers; rather scatter it across a wide area where it can filter into the soil.
The best thing a responsible nature lover can do is leave the wilderness as you found it. What are your tips for cleaning up after your outdoor adventures?