Environmental friendly choice of kit

[Janne]

We are now aware of that one more 'modern' material is detrimental for the environment, namely plastics of most sorts.

As we all have a stronger love of nature than the average citizen, have you thought about not buying equipment made from or containing these plastics?

I never liked plastic in my clothing, Helly Hansen jumpers excluded. But I have used plastics for much of my equipment, like tents, backpacks, plates, and much more.

Now with that knowledge that plastics will harm our environment in a more severe way than we thought before, I will remove those materials as much as I can from my kit.

Has anybody else thought about this?

The problem I have though is to choose which material I should use. It is not easy to know which replacement is less harmful.
Aluminium plate? Titanium plate? Enamelled steel?

 

[Erbswurst]

In Germany traditional Boy Scouts usually are equipped with historic stuff.
Most is made from natural materials.

I used it for many years and it worked very well.
The only point is, that it is necessary to reduce the packing list to a minimum.

And, ok, you have to be a far better bushcrafter, if you want to use this old equipment. It doesn't forgive faults so easily like plastic equipment does.

But on the other side it is more comfortable. No condensation problems at the tarp or tent, no stinking and sweaty clothing, spark resistance, etc

I think the marked mainly changed, because the plastic equipment is cheaper to produce. I find that the old stuff is better.

Because I am interested to help beginners with informations about cheap equipment I write a lot about plastic stuff. But for my self I return more ad more to the old natural materials. A lot of woolen clothing I found second hand in the last month.

 

[Billy-o]

Nice topic, Janne

I am going through a bit of an eye opener here over the past few weeks. Of course plastics might be considered detrimental. But is the massive manufacture of single-use water bottles the same as a few plastic clip/buckles on your rucksack? Are all synthetic materials part of the same problem? I suppose there are steel buckles for your rucksack you could use instead of plastic, but they are heavier. And there are aluminium ones, but bauxite mining isn't so terrific for the environment. Its sort of the same with using cotton or nylon for the body of yu pack, clothes, tent etc.. Growing cotton (which appears, sustainable, breaks down and everything) is environmentally demanding, and we mentioned earlier the social costs of how cheap cotton goods are manufactured.

Also leather. At any given point there are somethiing like 40 million adult cattle in the US. That takes a lot of environmental resourcing, producing feed, pasture, the associated pharmacology, clearing land. It is where a lot of the Amazon went, for instance, and some say cattle farts are bad for the atmosphere .. which I suppose they are in several ways .

I don't mean to nay-say either side of the argument, it is just that most industrially produced raw material commodities come at some major cost or another. So, maybe don't buy the single use water bottles, but do buy the bombproof replacement plastic buckles for your kit. Don't buy the $3 cotton pyjamas that you will chuck in no time, but do buy the waxed cotton canvas (or indeed Cordura) rucksack that lasts you a lifetime. The longevity and repairability and reuseability of things (natural material or not) is the issue

 

[Robson Valley]

Domestic livestock, cattle in particular "release" a great deal of methane.
That in turn is supposed to contribute to the mix of gases that trap solar heat energy in the atmosphere.
Just because it's possible does not mean that it matters. Same for the trendy concern with carbon dioxide.

Drive east of Vancouver BC on a cold foggy morning, up into the Fraser Valley (lots of dairy farms).
There's a photochemical smog of manure, cow pharts and vehicle emissions that you can cut with a dull knife.

Don't throw the plastic away. Most are marked, most can be recycled. You pack it in? You pack it out.

I have several plastic water bottles that I never plan to discard. They have lasted for years.
I have a tin plate. Probably aluminum. I can even cook on it, if I had to. S/S poor quality cutlery set from 1973.
I should eat on paper plates. Keep food warmer, longer and fire starter, too.

We share a puzzle with the Scandinavian countries = the chemistry of our paved roads using petroleum products.
Because of the great seasonal changes in temperature, it's very hard to build a road surface
which won't crack much at -30C yet not be too soft in the summer sun (shade 35C).
Turns out that junk plastics in the melt might be a large part of the answer. Several experimental pavings in my region for some years now.

 

[Janne]

Bit off topic:
In Sweden we use studded tyres, which wear the surface hugely. In the area where I lived the last 20 years, northern Scania, we have a tone called Diabas. Ultra hard, deep black, beautiful. The off cuts and pieces in the mining were test used as a filler in the tarmac.
Several years later, the test roads were fine, very little wear, but our tyres lasted less than a year, both winter and summer tyres.

Diabas is not used on roads.

 

[Robson Valley]

I notice that it's popular in the media to speak of "single-use" plastics and the resulting throw-away.
I've made an effort to use any and all plastics at least twice, if I can. I know I'm preaching to the converted.
Even glass containers are wonderful for storage of all sorts of dry foods, herbs & spices.
Plastic recycling seems to be very slow to get moving and become an attractive proposition in my region.
In the city, it all has to be washed and dried or they won't even touch the bin.

 

[Jared]

Believe there are ongoing trails introducing small amount of seaweed into cattle's diet. Cuts methane emissions by 99% apparently.
Tarmac is 100% recyclable, so pretty hard to beat as a road surface.

Also plastics aren't necessarily bad in some situations. There was a Danish study on shopping bags *. And how many times they had to be reused to be as good as a regular "single use" shopping bag.
An organic cotton bag would have to be reused 20,000 times for any benefit.

* http://mst.dk/service/publikationer/publikationsarkiv/2018/mar/plastposer-lca/

 

[Robson Valley]

I'd be very concerned about the cattle metabolism as the methane is absolutely normal.
Same crap and corruption to claim that "grain-fed" is better.

Coffee cups.
The most environmentally friendly coffee cup is the simple styrofoam.
My crockery coffee mugs, from clay in the ground, need 250 washings to match a styrofoam.
I'll bet that I have 2, or maybe 3, mugs that make the grade.

I like the heavy-duty plastic bags from the grog shops.
They make the best reusable bread bags ever.

 

[Janne]

Our plates, cups and cutlery we bought the same year we moved together. 1987.
No plastic can beat that!

I am thinking of replacing, but wife is negative.

I believe waxed paper cups are superior to styrofoam. Styrofoam is virtually removed from Sweden and Norway.

The only winner in us using styrofoam cups is the Dart family. Google ‘Camana Bay Grand Cayman’ and you will see why I prefer and use porcellain cups and plates.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

I am thinking of replacing, but wife is negative.

Yes - I too have thought about replacing my wife (trading her in for a new model) but she is also a bit negative about the idea.

 

[John Fenna]

I try to recycle as much as possible - even with natural materials!
As examples - most of my light weight leatherwork is done using leather from jackets etc that are too beat up (broken zips or burst seam etc) for Charity Shops to sell. They get next to nothing from the Rag Man for these items and most just go to Landfill... except the ones I buy, select the bits of leather that are still in good condition and re-use in making pouches. The Charity Shop gets more than if they had given it for rags, my customers get more affordable pouches and there is a small reduction in the demand for leather with all the "production pollution" involved in rearing cattle and tanning their hides...
My billycans are repurposed stainless steel biscuit barrels and coffee containers - again from Charity Shops - instead of expensive new titanium, alu or steel items ... cheap, functional and lowering the demand for mining or smelting
I try and choose kit that uses natural materials - mostly it looks better and works better (IMHO) than plastics BUT I do uses synthetics where synthetics have a real advantage.
As an example - tarps and parachutes that I store on my Bushcraft basecamp sites are synthetic as they often have to be packed away wet (I live in Wales - nuff said!) and are stored in plastic barrels to avoid rodent damage.
You can take the environmentally sound kit thing to the max - grow and process your own flax in a sustainable way to make your own linen or harvest wild nettles to weave into cloth on the loom you make from sustainably produced timber (using lashed or pegged joints so as to avoid mined and smelted metal fixings) to make your home sewn clothing (cut out with stone tools to avoid smelting metals)... but you may never find the time to have a Life if you go this route...
I think we can all make a level of effort to slow down how fast mankind is killing the planet - but until society changes our efforts are going to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things (even buying Merino socks instead of synthetics will involve huge "airmiles"/carbon footprint, moving the wool around the planet, processesing, dying, printing the labels, building retail outlets and heating and lighting them etc etc etc) so we are going to give our decendents a truely compromised planet no matter what we do...
But I think we owe them at least the smallest of efforts to minimise the degree of compromise we inflict on the poor old world and this could even be just reducing the amounts of plastics we use and waste.
I will not go into the subject of using fossil fuels/vehicles that use huge resources to build to actually get from our Inner City Hell Holes out to remote wildernesses around the planet to enjoy our environmentally safe Bushcraft activities before we return to our nice warm and well lit (using power from Nuclear Power Stations) homes...
I have, personally, avoided the guilt of passing the ruined planet to my children, grand children and their offspring - by the simple expedient of not having children.

 

[woodsorrel]

I love my fleece jackets! But I've read growing evidence that when we wash fleece small nylon threads/particles get into the water system. These eventually make their way into the oceans.

I am currently testing a product for my website called GuppyFriend. You place your fleece into this fine mesh bag before you throw it in the wash. When the wash is done, you remove the fleece and scrape/grab the accumulated loose threads from the inside of the mesh bag.

I hope this product helps reduce the amount of plastic that I put into the water system.

- Woodsorrel

 

[Zingmo]

I recently learnt about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). The world is just waking up to the fact that we have been spreading these practically indestructible substances around the planet and they are toxic to us. (Anyone remember Scotchguard?)
If you are standing in the rain in your Goretex jacket then you are polluting the environment. The water running off your coat is unlikely to pass the proposed new EU drinking water standards because it contains PFAS.
These compounds do not degrade, are very soluble in water and accumulate in our bodies. Once there is enough of them in your body, they start affecting your organs. If you have drunk water with PFAS in, they stay with you. You can't detox yourself. Hence the drinking water regulations have to be set to protect a child facing a lifetime of drinking that water. I had the tap water from my office tested: now I know that every cup of tea I drink there contains PFAS.
The reason why archaeology is so difficult, is that our forebears left very little trace. Their possessions were made of materials that dissolved back into nature now discernible only by faint colour differences in the soil.
Your ceramic mug may have cost resources to make, but when you are done with it, it will become inert waste: Non reactive, non soluble and non toxic. Essentially just stone. Whereas the Styrofoam cup, after its one intended use, will go on dispersing and poisoning the environment for hundreds of years.

In case you're wondering, I'll be wearing my Goretex jacket in the rain today. But I pause now every time I pick it up.

Z

 

[Erbswurst]

May be, that producing equipment from natural materials needs energy too.

But you simply have no rubbish in the end!

And if it is made in the right way, it lasts longer than a life time! I own Swiss, Swedish and German army rucksacks which had been produced round about one hundred years ago and they are still fine!

 

[Janne]

Sadly, it is more and more difficult to find goods (of all sorts) that are long lasting. Buy, use a short time, throw away.

 

[Erbswurst]

Yes. It is necessary to watch out for old stuff. Professional dealers ask for horrible prices, but at the next corner you can get it for free or some buttons.

 

[Janne]

I mainly use old stuff. Which I bought in my early 20.
The only new item I had to buy the last two years is a new tent and new shoes. Old tent - seams gave up, old shoes - too heavy fir my knee.
In two weeks, I am going to buy a new backpack, as British Airways manahed to break the Coleman plastic frame on my carrying system.

 

[Riven]

Using old and recycled kit to me is a good way to reduce any damage caused by its manufacture. I use US army plastic water bottles, mess tins etc bought many years ago that can be used happily for many more. As said earlier charity shops provide good hunting ground to recycle and even make/repair your own kit.

 

[leaky5]

I would like to find some of the PET fabric like the one used by Millican. It looks / feels great and I think it would be nice to work with.

 

[Jared]

I would like to find some of the PET fabric like the one used by Millican. It looks / feels great and I think it would be nice to work with.

http://bionic.is/