Staying eco-friendly

You limit your footprint, cleaning up from meals with bio-soap (or none) and using refillable containers for food and drink for starters.

March 30, 2017 at 9:48PM
Campers work on taking down the tents after their overnight stay in Afton State Park so that the next camper would find it a clean camp site.
Campers work on taking down the tents after their overnight stay in Afton State Park so that the next camper would find it a clean camp site. (Billy Steve Clayton — STAR TRIBUNE/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

You limit your footprint, cleaning up from meals with bio-soap (or none) and using refillable containers for food and drink for starters. That's just the start of being green in the outdoors. Environmentally friendly gear and products continue to evolve and innovate, from natural products for camper toilets that break down waste and deodorize to solar-powered lanterns. But be wary. Read reviews and blogs, and do some digging. Better yet, talk to the most knowledgeable employees at specialty stores that sell outdoors gear. And, at the least, stick to one of the core Leave No Trace principles: Pack it in, pack it out.

Bob Timmons

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about the writer