Make Your Next Trip To The Beach a Green One – Our Beach Bag Checklist
It’s the season to be hitting the sand, sea and sun! You pack some lunch and few snacks, chuck some drinks in the cooler and off you go. But before you settle down with your towel and beach umbrella, maybe take another look at exactly what environmental hazards you may be bringing to the beach. We’re going to give you a few pointers with our beach bag checklist to make sure you don’t leave a trail of carbon footprints in the sand.
Drinks and what to put them in
As you may know, here at Onya it’s fair to say we’re strongly opposed to single use drink bottles. We’ve talked about their carbon footprint and how the production, transport and eventual disposal of these plastic beasties puts a huge stress on the planet. That’s not even taking into account the financial drain we inflict on ourselves by purchasing drinks in these bottles.
So as much as it may seem a great idea to pick up a jumbo bottle of your favourite fizzy drink and some put ice into the cooler, taking some refreshing water instead might be a better option. We know that staying out in the scorching Aussie sun all day can not only leave us looking considerably pinker than usual but also dehydrated, according to the Victorian Government’s Better Health.
Heat stress can also be caused by dehydration and overexposure to the sun, so keeping your stainless steel water bottle nearby is a great way to keep safe while looking after the environment. Of course, accidentally leaving plastic bottles behind at the beach, which could end up floating out to sea or endangering wildlife, is less likely to happen when you’ve got one of our colourful stainless steel bottles. You wouldn’t want to leave one behind, would you? Check hydration off your beach bag checklist.
Food and how to bring it to the beach
Heading out for a beach day can be hungry work, whether it involves some mildly competitive cricket or a game of footy, some jumping around in the waves or even if you’re supervising it all. Pack your lunches and snacks before you head out to avoid possibly expensive beach-side fare and minimise that disposable wrapping!
If you’re taking some sandwiches or anything that needs to be held together, try our multipurpose sandwich wrap, which you can adjust to take anything from a slapped together cheese and tomato to something a bit more hearty. If you want to pack some loose snacks or fruit to be on the safe side, produce bags can be a great way to keep them separate from the rest of your bag or your cooler. By choosing reusables you can reduce waste while checking food off your beach bag checklist.
Bagging the lot
Of course, when you need a bag to lug all your stuff to the beach, look no further than our lightweight, yet tough reusable bags and backpacks. They’re constructed from a textile called rPET, which itself is made from recycled plastic bottles. Unlike a traditional plastic bag, our eco-friendly bags are sturdy and have a long life span. By taking a reusable bag to the beach you also avoid the chance of the wind whisking your feather weight plastic bags across the sand and into the water. Even if you throw them away, plastic bags still clog up landfill, and can take possibly hundreds of years to break down.
Keep an eye on the sun
One of the most important things on your beach bag checklist is your broad spectrum, water resistant SPF 30 sunscreen. No one wants to get burned having fun on the beach, so take a minute to cover any exposed skin and supplement this with some good standard sunglasses to protect your eyes. Don’t forget the humble hat is a great way to keep the sun off the sensitive skin on your face.
