Garbage Management while holidaying

 Destinations as well as tourists have important roles to play when it comes to having a pleasant experience at a particular holiday spot. The common issue among many travelers visiting remote parts of India, be it hill stations, beach fronts national parks and monument sites is the absence of proper garbage disposal facilities and the accumulation of non bio degradable waste. This is in the form of used mineral water bottles, biscuit & chocolate wrappers, beverage and beer cans, containers and other such material. Waste collected at these sites is not easily degradable, creating a detrimental effect on the environment.

We at L'orient Travels embarked on a campaign in 2013 of sensitizing students, tourism academies, local institutes and other social media wherein we encourage the tourist/traveler going on day visits, picnics and overnight trips to bring his/her non bio garbage back home. Strange as it may sound our suggestion is to bring a trash bag for leftovers to be kept at a convenient place or carried along during treks, hikes and forest rides. The garbage accumulated during the stay needs to be put in the trash bag and brought back. It is estimated each visitor generates about half a kilo of non bio waste for each day of stay. This practice is most suitable when visiting ecologically fragile areas which do not have sufficient waste disposal and garbage facilities.

There are many places in India where the density of tourists to locals is extremely high,in places like Ladakh for instance it is 5 visitors for every local. Imagine the amount of garbage collected, where even disposing off the fourteen truckloads of degradable waste is a humungous task. In many tourist destinations non-bio is stashed away in desolate places inviting the wrath of scavenging animals, bandicoots and roaches, to name a few. To put it rather plainly many tourist destinations have inadequate waste storage and treatment facilities. The sooner we accept it, the better it is for both, local and tourist.

The question that naturally arises is how does one bring the garbage back? If travelling the car, the boot is the best place to store trash. Almost odorless, non-bio can also be stored in the rear portion of a vehicle. If using public conveyance, the task becomes a bit more stiff, though fellow passengers will not mind as long as there is no unpleasant odor. The options change if travelling back by air, here this garbage needs to disposed in trash cans kept outside airport entrance halls. Bigger towns and cities do have better treatment and disposal facilities.

What are the advantages to be gained by following such a practice? For one, shelf life of destinations will definitely increase. Tourists will lead the way for locals to follow and set outstanding examples of conservation and preservation. Strong bonding patterns will be witnessed between destinations and tourists and finally this practice will prevent the untimely demise of destinations, something, we are quite familiar with. While garbage disposal measures will improve over a period of time, the time is ripe for tourists to play a more responsible role, especially in spots where measures are lacking. Tourists will then leave nothing, but footprints behind!!