Ah, Summertime! Time to pack the suitcase and travel. Since all of us are recycling at home, we need to remember to watch our waste while on vacation. That is a harder task as most cities only offer residential or commercial recycling. Very little is available for the traveler, but things are slowly changing. Here are some observations and green travel tips.

On my last flight from the Oakland Airport, I noticed paper recycling bins in the gate area for people to recycle their newspapers.

Tom Chancler, who lives in the south bay, reported, “I fly a lot and usually ask the flight attendants if they actually recycle their cans and bottles as they claim to. The truth is that if you press them hard enough, you will find that they really don't. So I try to bring on my own snacks and bottled water, refusing the meal, and all its waste that they provide.”

For years my husband and I have carried our own light weight plastic mugs when we fly. They work great for hot or cold beverages and the flight attendants generally give us more to drink.

Friends who have traveled around the world have shared their findings. Near Bombay India, Anil Comelo found that scavengers (recyclers) wanted plastic water bottles. When asked why, he found that they were a hot commodity in small villages where most liquids came in breakable glass or large metal containers. Plastic bottles were few and far between. He also observed government-sponsored neighborhood recycling programs in Thailand.

Car travelers on short trips should follow the back packers’ motto: pack it in, pack it out. It’s easy to bring home beverage containers and newspapers and put them in your blue recycling bin.

Many local and national parks are setting up recycling systems. Do your part by putting in only the cans or bottles listed on those recycling bins. Park personnel waste valuable time sorting trash out of these recycling bins. With your help they can spend more time leading nature hikes.

Check out travel guidebooks for recycling and green information. The Insiders' Guides to Tucson, Portland and Glacier include brief sections on recycling.

While not technically a vacation story, I found this summer Forest Service story inspiring. At Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Montana, fire camp recycling was extremely successful last year. They collected twelve tons of corrugated cardboard, over a ton of aluminum and steel cans, three-quarters of a ton of paper and plastic bottles, 85 gallons of cooking grease, thousands of batteries, plus five-gallon buckets, plastic tarps, and fire gloves.

Recycling coordinator Kathy Sweet and her crew went to work immediately when the fire camps were being set up, making arrangements to haul the commodities to AWARE, a workshop for the developmentally disabled. The AWARE program provides recycling services to nearby communities. Their success was in the planning. Sweet reported: "We placed recycling bins in convenient locations, flagged off and signed recycling areas near the Supply and Food units and shared information about the program at daily briefings.”

So travel green this summer and don’t forget to use the cloth shopping bag that you packed in your luggage.

COMPOSTING CLASS at the Solano County Fair
Composting classes will be taught daily at 4:00 p.m. at the Solano County Fair. We have moved to the new Urban Garden area located near the Race track. One compost bin will be given away at each class and each participant will receive a composting book. For more information, call 707 55-EARTH.