If you embrace a digital nomad lifestyle, travel for work, or have a job that requires you to move frequently, your life may be saturated with single-use plastic and jet fuel. We know that living sustainability can feel impossible — especially if you don’t have a permanent home base. But we’re here to spill the tea — organic, fair-trade, of course — on how to travel more sustainably while living your best nomadic lifestyle! Here are five tips on how to live more sustainably when you’re on the go.
1. Download Carbon Friendly Apps
Our first tip for sustainable business travel: turn your smartphone into an eco-sidekick! There are plenty of apps available that can help you offset your carbon footprint. Apps like Hopper, for example, help offset your carbon footprint by planting two trees whenever you book a flight, car rental, or hotel.
Like many, you may want to be eco-friendly but don’t know where to start. Fortunately, the Glooby app takes the hard work out of sustainability by giving hotels and airlines environmental ratings. Now, you can weigh your travel options without falling into the research rabbit hole!
Air Travel Tip: When in doubt, choose direct flights instead of ones with connections. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), they tend to have lower carbon impacts.
2. Ditch the Consumables
We’re inundated with future landfill material when we travel. Plastic bottles, disposable cutlery, styrofoam to-go containers, and other single-use items make staying sustainable on the go difficult. You may think that only buying products in recyclable packaging is the best thing you can do for the environment, but according to NPR, most recyclable plastic doesn’t get turned into new products. Instead, the majority of it ends up in the landfill.
Of course, if you must buy plastic products, please recycle them! But if you want to circumvent the cycle entirely, investing in reusable water bottles, alternatives to plastic cutlery, and multi-use bags is a fantastic way to advocate for a cleaner planet.
3. Furnish Responsibly
This one ranks high on our list of sustainable travel tips. If your profession requires you to move a lot, you know how difficult it can be to furnish your home sustainably. After all, whenever you move to a new place, you must buy, sell, transport, or even throw away furniture.
Prevent that hassle and go green simultaneously by renting furniture from CORT. When you do, you’ll have what you need for as long as you need it — and most importantly, reduce the amount of furniture that ends up in the landfill. How does that work? Through a circular model!
What is circularity in sustainability?
CORT’s circular model helps keep our furniture rental practice more sustainable. But what does circularity mean? Circularity is a process of keeping materials and objects in use by maintaining, refurbishing, upcycling, and recycling. In other words, instead of throwing things out when their original purpose is served, you find ways to repurpose them.
How does CORT’s circular model work?
CORT’s circular model works like this:
- We invest in durable products that are manufactured to high standards.
- We rent our furniture an average of two to six times, or about four years.
- In between rentals, we sanitize, maintain, repair, and clean our furniture.
- Once items are at the end of their rental life, we once again inspect, clean, and touch them up.
- Then, they go to CORT Furniture Outlet, where they are sold to their forever homes.
That means whether you’re looking to create a sustainable apartment or just need some eco-friendly decor we have you covered.
Hear what CORT customer Beth has to say about why she loves using CORT Furniture Rental:
4. Support Local Farmers
When you’re ready to stock your new, sustainably furnished dwelling with groceries, choose to shop locally! Not only will you support the local economy, but a shorter distance from farm to plate often results in lower emissions. As a bonus, locally sourced food may even taste better and contain more nutrients than commercially produced food, according to Michigan State University.
5. Use Public Transit
When possible, utilize public transit instead of renting a car or calling an Uber. A report from the Federal Transit Administration states that transportation as a whole accounts for about 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. In the same report, they also note that public transit — particularly subways and metros — produces “76% less in greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than an average single-occupancy vehicle.”
Though riding with other passengers may not be the most private or comfortable option, it truly is the environmentally conscious thing to do. Plus, you’ll avoid the headache of navigating through traffic, which gives you more time to focus on the important things in life.
Incorporate Sustainablity Wherever You Go with CORT
Moving and traveling frequently for business often means packing light. However, that can quickly devolve into a life filled with single-use plastic and carbon emissions. There are many small steps that you can take to be more sustainable on the go, and it’s not just limited to reusable water bottles!
Sustainability can play a part in furnishing your temporary residence, too. When you rent furniture through CORT, you get to customize your space to be the comfortable, beautiful retreat you need to unwind after work. Furniture rental differs because you don’t have to worry about buying, selling, or throwing away furniture every time you relocate!
When you rent from CORT, you become an active participant in our circular sustainability model. That means you can rent great furniture and know that once you’re done with it, it will continue to be useful for someone else – not become another item destined for a landfill.
CORT makes furnishing your space temporarily easy. Visit CORT online or at your local showroom and start building your furniture package. Our team will work with you to set a delivery date, and we’ll even assemble your furniture for you. Once you’re ready to move on, set a pick-up date, and we’ll take care of your furnishings. Get started online or in-store today!
