Most visitors come to the Cape & Islands for the beautiful beaches. Of course, no trip is complete without a beach bag filled with snacks for the day, a quick lunch, and all of the essentials for a day in the sun. Unfortunately, these bags are often filled with disposable items that end up in the trash. Here are some of our favorite sustainable alternatives for your next trip to the Cape and Islands.
Beach Bags
The beach bag itself is just as important as the items inside! There are a variety of size options available for a sustainable beach bag. If you’re looking to take a short trip to the beach, we recommend carrying a reusable grocery tote.
For carrying a family’s worth of items, you might consider purchasing a beach tote from the Cape Cod Bag Company. This local business is a great resource for quality made bags in a variety of sizes.
Snacks and Lunches
Plastic bags may seem like the quickest fix for packaging all of your lunches and snacks, but they’re not exactly Earth-friendly! Beeswax wraps are a great alternative to single-use plastic bags. You can find online instructions for melting and baking cotton fabric. If you’re not that crafty, there are many online brands that sell this wrap, which will last up to a year.
Photo courtesy of @NatureBeeWraps Instagram account.
Another good alternative is to package your food in Tupperware containers or recycle items that you already have in your home. A plastic bread bag, for example, can be reused to hold all of your snacks for the day.
Reusable Water Bottles
Did you know that many Cape Cod towns have banned plastic water bottles? U.S. consumers purchase billions of water bottles every year, with most of them ending up in the landfill. Using reusable water bottles will not only save you money, but it will also limit waste.
While these swaps may seem insignificant, they can have a major impact on the Cape & Islands environment!