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Pack the 3R's While on Holiday Travel
While you’re traveling for the holidays, don’t leave your waste reduction and recycling habits at home. With almost one-quarter of all travel occurring during the holiday season, we have a huge opportunity to recycle and reduce waste without sacrificing our comfort or convenience.
Minimize your environmental impact before you hit the road. When planning your trip:
- Use electronic, not paper, tickets when booking transportation or events. Electronic tickets generate less waste and cost less to replace.
- Ensure that your vehicle is “road-ready” by properly tuning your engine and properly inflating your tires to help save gas and money.
- Contact your newspaper publisher to ask if you can stop your subscription while you’re away, or if it’s possible to donate the newspapers to schools or other organizations.
- Ask about alternative fuel vehicles when renting a car.
When booking accommodations, make an effort to stay in an
environmentally conscious place that practices waste reduction,
energy conservation, and recycling. Many hotels advertise
their recycling and conservation programs on their Web site
or you can also request information when calling to book your
room. Also, organizations such as Green
Seal 
and the Green Hotels
Association
now certify lodging facilities based on their environmental
attributes. If your hotel does not participate in a certification
or standards program, encourage it to do so. During your hotel
stay:
- Use the hotel's electronic checkout program to reduce paper waste.
- Let the hotel know it's not necessary to change your sheets and towels every day.
- Leave unopened shampoo, soap, and other complimentary items at the hotel; take partially used items with you when you leave.
- Turn off lights and heating when you leave for long periods of time.
- Use the hotel's transportation or share a taxi with another hotel guest when traveling to a well-known destination.
While you’re on the road, pack drinks, sandwiches, and snacks in reusable thermoses and containers. If you dine at carry-out restaurants, take only the condiments, napkins, and utensils you need. If you are at a visitors’ center, take only the brochures you need and recycle the ones you don’t keep. And above all, don’t litter—carry your trash or recyclables with you until you find an appropriate waste or recycling container.
Recycling while traveling supports our Recycle on the Go campaign, which promotes recycling wherever you go. In addition, our fact sheet Reducing Waste When You Travel: Making Environmental Choices (PDF) (4 pp, 235K, about PDF) outlines outlines waste reduction tips and ideas to follow while you’re traveling. These waste reduction efforts exemplify the type of initiative encouraged by the Resource Conservation Challenge within its focus on Municipal Solid Waste Recycling.
For More Information:
- Resource Conservation Challenge national priority area: Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
- Recycle on the Go
- Reducing Waste When You Travel: Making Environmental Choices (PDF) (4 pp, 235K, about PDF)
- Green Hotel Initiatives
- Green Hotels Association
- Green Seal