37. Tips for a Low-Waste Thru-Hike with Ana Lucia Valencia
- Meg Carney
- Mar 29
- 22 min read
Is a zero-waste backpacking trip possible? What about a zero-waste thru-hike?
Well, you are about to find out. In episode 37 of the Outdoor Minimalist podcast, we get to hear tips on how to have a low-waste thru-hike from someone that has done it: Ana Lucía Valencia.
Ana Lucía (aka Eco) is a hiker from Mexico who in 2021 set out to complete a zero-waste thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. Her love for being outdoors has made her develop a close and respectful relationship with nature; she wishes to share and inspire others to do the same.
Waste Free PCT: https://www.instagram.com/wastefreepct
Learn More About Ana's Journey
This transcript was edited to remove some filler words and phrases and is not verbatim according to what is spoken in the audio recording.
Meg: Thanks for joining me today, Ana. I am intrigued to learn about how you manage a thru-hike with minimal waste. But before we get to that topic, can you tell us more about how you first got involved in outdoor recreation and how it fits into your life today?
Ana: Hi, Meg. So, I started getting involved in outdoor recreation when I was really young. My family would take my brother and me camping and hiking very often. Our holidays used to be camping somewhere in Mexico, and they really wanted us to know Mexico through nature.
So, I think that made me feel really connected to my environment from a young age.
My dad and I would hike together often as I was growing up, and we would go up the big volcanoes here in Mexico. He taught me how to enjoy hiking—how to enjoy hiking big mountains—and ever since, I’ve been hooked. I really enjoy being outside. I do a lot of different activities—I hike, I swim—whatever keeps me outside, I really enjoy.
Nowadays, I work in things that keep me outside a lot. I work as a camping guide and a hiking guide on the weekends. In my day-to-day job, I work on sports-related events and focus on reducing their environmental impact. So, my life pretty much revolves around the outdoors now.
Meg: That’s awesome. I feel like a lot of people I talk to had that early introduction to outdoor sports.
Are you currently based in Mexico as well?
Ana: I am, yeah. I was born and raised in Mexico—I was born in Mexico City and have lived there most of my life. Right now, I’m not there, but Mexico is my home base.
Meg: With your dad, is that when you first got involved in backpacking?
Ana: Yes. We would hike bigger mountains together—14ers, 15ers, even 16ers. We have big volcanoes around Mexico City, so he got me into that when I was about 13 years old. The first time I went up a big mountain, I think it was a 17,000-foot volcano really close to Mexico City.
He really helped me find my own rhythm, my own pace, and enjoy the mountain for what it is. Because when I first got there, I was out of breath, I was tired, I wanted to quit. But he held my hand the whole way through—he would wait for me, encourage me—and that’s how I got into backpacking.
We also did a trip together to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. We did a five-day trip there, which we really enjoyed. But other than that, we hadn’t really done overnight backpacking together—we mostly just do day trips around Mexico.
Meg: So then, what inspired you to want to do a thru-hike or a long-distance backpacking trip?
Ana: I tend to really enjoy doing long-distance things in general. I’m not a sprinter—I like to take my time, find my pace, and settle into my rhythm.
I first learned about the trail back in 2015 when I watched the movie Wild—like many people did. I just knew it was something I would really enjoy doing. Ever since then, it stuck in my head.
Every year, I kept telling everyone, “I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.”
I also really enjoy swimming in the ocean, especially for longer distances. And I’ve found that hiking longer trails or climbing bigger mountains puts you in the same mindset—it forces you to be really in the moment. Your goal is far away, so you just have to find your pace. It kind of becomes like a meditation, and I love that feeling.
I knew that thru-hiking would give me that same experience, so I finally decided to do it in 2021. I just dropped everything—and I went.
Meg: That’s awesome. Yeah, I feel like some people are really into either endurance and long-distance hiking, or they prefer shorter, faster-paced trips. I’m definitely more of the slower-paced, "enjoy the journey" type.
The Pacific Crest Trail is the trail you’re talking about, right?
Ana: Yes, I decided to hike the PCT in 2021, and that’s what I did in April.
Meg: Was that the first thru-hike you had ever done?
Ana: Yes, it was. It’s the longest hike I’ve ever done. Other than that, the only real backpacking trip I had done was that five-day trip in Wyoming. But it wasn’t like I was starting from zero—I had outdoor experience. Still, I didn’t have much backpacking experience, and even less experience with ultralight backpacking.
Meg: That’s awesome! You’re definitely not the first person to tell me they hiked the PCT without much prior backpacking experience. I think that’s amazing.
Do you have any other long-distance hikes you’re planning now that you’ve completed one?
Ana: I would love to do another long hike. The one in New Zealand really appeals to me, or maybe the 88 Temple Trail in Japan. But I haven’t done any other long hikes since I left the PCT.
Meg: Well, that was pretty recent, right?
Ana: Yeah, true.
Meg: How long did the PCT take you?
Ana: It took me five and a half months. I left the southern terminus on April 18, 2021, and I reached Canada on October 3.
Meg: Nice! I’m going to switch gears slightly here and talk a little about zero waste and low waste because I’m curious—were these interests of yours before you hiked the PCT? Were you already pursuing a zero-waste or low-waste lifestyle?
Ana: Yes, I was. Because I’ve felt so connected to my environment from a very young age, that naturally led me to living a zero-waste lifestyle.
When I was a teenager, I started getting involved in environmental causes. I read more about our impact as human beings on the planet, especially how we affect the species we share it with. First, I read about unsustainable tropical palm oil production and tried to avoid that. Then I became vegetarian, then vegan.
In 2018, I learned about a movement called Plastic Free July—it’s an international challenge where you avoid plastic for an entire month. I tried it, and it just stuck. I saw that it was doable and that I liked living that way.
Just to clarify, a zero-waste lifestyle aims to reduce as much landfill waste as possible by reintegrating any byproducts of what you consume. It’s not just about reducing, reusing, and recycling—it’s also about rethinking your choices, refusing unnecessary items, and repairing what you can.
I had been living that way for about three years before heading to the trail. And when I decided to hike the PCT, I already knew I wanted to do it without producing waste.
Meg: Yeah, I was going to ask you how you define zero waste, so thank you.
Before I get to the next question on the list, I’m also curious—how did you find yourself integrating those zero-waste habits into your life?
Ana: I started small. At first, it was the typical things like avoiding straws and asking for no straw when I went out. Then I started avoiding single-use plastics, such as plastic bags at the grocery store, which led me to always carrying my own bags—like my own mesh bags—when I went shopping.
Instead of using plastic water bottles, I always brought my reusable bottle.
It was a step-by-step process, like a domino effect. It wasn’t like one day I just decided to stop using plastics completely because that’s impossible. It was a slow transition—first carrying my own cutlery, then carrying my own container so that if I wanted to order takeout, I could use my own container. Small changes here and there.
I started composting my organic waste, then buying in bulk. It was a multi-year process, and I’m still working on it. It wasn’t perfect from the beginning. Aiming for perfection is just unsustainable, so I started small but kept going every year.
Meg: Do you think that’s why it was maybe a little easier to integrate that into backpacking since it was already a part of your life?
Ana: Yes, very much so. Looking back, I don’t think I could have thru-hiked with waste just because of how deeply I feel about these issues. They really move me to the core. The way we treat our environment makes me really sad, so I do these things because I want to do as much as I can with the power I have as an individual. I know my choices can create an impact, and through example, I can influence others.
That’s why I decided to live the way I do and why I decided to hike the trail the way I did. I don’t see myself hiking any other way.
Meg: Okay, so jumping to your actual waste-free PCT hike—where were the areas where you did end up having to create waste? And as a two-part question, where did you notice other hikers generating the most waste?
Ana: The first waste I generated was from my flight. I had to fly to the southern terminus because I was living near Mexico City, and of course, that comes with emissions.
But the biggest waste I generated throughout my hike was shoes, fuel canisters, and shipping. On a trail as long as the PCT—2,600 miles—I had to go through five pairs of shoes. I wasn’t able to recycle any of them. They were so worn down that I didn’t feel comfortable giving them back to REI to resell. I asked at REI if they had any recycling programs, but they always said no. So I had to leave my used shoes in hiker boxes in the towns where I stopped. I don’t really know what happened to them, but they likely ended up in a landfill.
Before my hike, I found a shoe brand that uses recycled materials and plants a tree for every pair purchased. I planned on wearing those, but when I tested them on practice hikes, they didn’t work for me. So I had to switch to a different brand that wasn’t as sustainable, and I couldn’t find any way to reincorporate my used shoes into a recycling system.
Fuel canisters were another issue. I had to buy multiple canisters throughout my hike. I eventually got a fuel transfer device, which helped me reduce waste, but I still had to leave partially used canisters in hiker boxes. Fuel canisters are very hard to recycle, so that was another unavoidable waste.
Shipping was another area where I had to create waste. Since I bought all my food in bulk, a friend helped me ship boxes along the trail. We covered the boxes in paper tape to avoid plastic stickers and tape. I also removed any tape the post office added and made sure my boxes were placed in recycling bins instead of just throwing them away.
Another unavoidable waste was painkillers. There’s no bulk ibuprofen, so I had to buy two plastic bottles. That plastic is technically recyclable, but I never found any recycling bins in the trail towns I passed through.
Sometimes, other hikers would give me snacks—leftover granola bars, cookies, things like that—which came in plastic packaging. Even though I didn’t buy them, I would still take them because as a hiker, you’re always hungry. So I did have to throw away that packaging.
As for where I noticed other hikers creating the most waste, it was overwhelmingly from food packaging. Food packaging is a massive source of waste worldwide—not just on thru-hikes. Packaging materials make up nearly half of all plastic waste globally, and most of it will never get recycled. That’s one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do a zero-waste thru-hike.
When I first started researching how to do the trail, I was focused on logistics—what gear I needed, what food I needed—and all I saw was food packaging everywhere. I started to panic, wondering if I had to abandon my values just to complete the hike. That’s when I started looking into bulk food options, compostable bags, and anything else that would allow me to stick to my zero-waste lifestyle on the trail.
Meg: Well, first of all, that's awesome that you were able to avoid that much waste. I mean, like you said, you did end up having to create some waste.
Ana: Yes.
Meg: But I think that it's a really good example because you put a lot of work in ahead of time, preparing for the trail, and even tried to find different shoes.
Ana: Yeah.
Meg: But then you went for the shoes that worked best for you so you could still be comfortable on the trail. And you didn't omit the painkillers so you could still be comfortable. So yeah, I like that as an example because it kind of demonstrates that you can't really be perfect, but also, you can still do a lot.
Ana: Exactly.
Meg: If you go back to one of my earlier episodes, we do a waste audit and talk about food packaging. I feel like this is going to be somewhat similar to that, but I’m curious—how did you prepare food-wise?
Because in my head, when I think about my backpacking waste from previous trips, it’s always the food packaging, just like you're talking about. In our personal lives, it's also mostly the food packaging, like you said.
So, before we get to how this relates to a low-waste backpacking list, how did you go about eliminating food packaging?
Ana: Mainly, I just bought in bulk. That was the main thing I did. Before I hit the trail, I looked into which stores in San Diego—which was my base and also where I flew into—had a good bulk section. I also checked which towns along the trail had good bulk stores, and there weren’t many—maybe two. That’s why I made San Diego my base.
When I got there, I scouted all the stores on my list to see which ones I would be buying from. I found the cheapest option, but also, because of COVID regulations, a lot of bulk stores had pre-packaged their food in small plastic containers.
At first, I was defeated. I thought, "Oh no, I’m not going to be able to do this at all." But I talked to the store managers, explained my goal, and told them that I would be buying from them every week or every month. They allowed me to bring my own containers and buy a lot of the food I needed in bulk. They also allowed my friend to keep coming in regularly with his own containers so that he could buy in bulk for me.
Then I found a brand of resealable, home-compostable bags called BioBag, and this was a game changer for me. Before finding these, I thought I was going to have to carry heavy Stasher bags, glass containers, or maybe mesh bags. But that meant my food would perish, go everywhere, or that I’d have to carry a lot of extra weight if I wanted to be waste-free.
These resealable bags are just like Ziploc bags in terms of weight, but they’re home-compostable. I want to explain why that’s important—because a lot of bioplastics we find aren’t home-compostable, they’re industrially compostable.
That’s an issue because not many towns or cities have industrial compost facilities that can break down these materials properly. They require very high temperatures and a specific pH to degrade. When something is home-compostable, it means you can put it in your home compost, and it will break down in a couple of months.
I messaged the people from BioBag just to make sure they were home-compostable, and they confirmed. So, these were the bags I used. But I only used them because it was a long trail. If it were a shorter hike, I wouldn’t use compostable plastics—I’d just use my own containers or mesh bags.
In the end, I got oats, couscous, dried fruits and nuts, pretzels, granola, dried peas—anything I could find that I knew I’d use and crave—I bought in bulk. About 90% of my food was bulk-bought.
To complement, I carried granola bars from the only brand I found with home-compostable packaging, called Live Bar. They also cook with solar power, which is amazing. I also carried dehydrated meals from a company called Fernweh Food and another called Evergreen Adventure Foods. Both make vegan, organic, and home-compostable dehydrated meals. Those were my dinners every night, and I never got tired of them.
Then, I carried a bar of organic, fair-trade dark chocolate from a brand called Alter Eco. They use low-waste packaging—just cardboard with no plastic coating.
And yeah, that’s basically how I avoided food packaging waste.
Meg: Yeah, so I'm glad that you went into such detail with how you went through that and the kinds of foods you brought along because I was curious about how you effectively coordinated those food drops and shopping while you were hiking.
Like you’re saying, there are only those two bulk stores along the trail, so did you shop at all while you were hiking, or did you rely solely on the food drops coming from those bulk stores?
Ana: I relied mainly on the food drops. So what we would do—my friend and I—was be in constant communication. Whenever I had service in a town, I would tell him what I needed for the box that he hadn’t prepared yet. We would only plan maybe two weeks in advance. So I’d tell him, “Okay, this next stretch is going to be five days, so I need this much granola, this many dried nuts,” etc.
I would also order my dehydrated meals and granola bars to his house. I’d tell him, “I need five granola bars, six dehydrated meals,” and then he would make the box for me. I’d give him the post office address, and he would ship it to me.
The only times I did my own shopping and made my own boxes were when I was in Ashland, Oregon—I found a good co-op with a bulk section, so I did my own shopping there. I used my leftover compostable bags from the last stretch to do my resupply and ship it ahead. I also did this in Bend, Oregon, where I went to WinCo and did a lot of shopping.
I also left the trail in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, to go into Seattle and visit family. That’s where I did my shopping for Northern Washington. So those were the only three times I was able to shop for myself while on the trail.
Meg: Okay, that makes sense. Was coordinating that really hard?
Ana: Not really. I prepared four boxes in advance before hitting the trail, and I did it with my friend, so he saw what I did and I explained everything to him. I’d also ask him to include gear I had left at his house or things like more shampoo—I pre-cut my own shampoo bars and wrapped them in tin foil, so I’d tell him, “Okay, I need more shampoo in this box and this box.”
I just had to be mindful of his schedule. If he had to leave town, he would let me know. It wasn’t that hard because he was living in California, so the boxes would only take about five days to reach me. And since we always did it two weeks in advance, it was never an issue.
Meg: Yeah, so it just sounds like there was a lot of pre-trip planning, which I’m sure everyone experiences.
Ana: Yes, because I’ve heard of a lot of people doing resupplies and having boxes mailed out. Basically, I just applied those same strategies, but with zero waste in mind.
I don’t think zero waste is harder to plan—it’s just maybe one extra layer. I don’t find it tedious at all, but maybe that’s because I’m used to living this way. The one thing I will say is that it can be less flexible.
When you reach a town and go to a grocery store, if you’re not buying zero waste, you can just grab whatever you’re craving in that moment. But if you are buying zero waste and relying on food drops, then you can only eat what you found at the bulk store. But I don’t really mind that because I’m used to it. That’s the only thing that would change, in my view.
Meg: Okay. What do you think was the biggest challenge for you in doing a zero-waste thru-hike?
Ana: The biggest challenge was that I didn’t have any information on how this could work.
Before hitting the trail, I was in this conundrum—am I going to hike this even though it creates waste? Am I going to hike it zero waste? I researched as much as I could and asked questions on every forum I could find about the PCT. I was asking people, “How can I do this without creating waste?” but I couldn’t find any information.
So I think the hardest part was just doing it first. I didn’t have anything to reference—it was very much trial and error, an experiment for me.
What I did was look at everything I needed—gear, toiletries, food, anything for the trail—and figure out how I could minimize my impact. If it was gear, how could I minimize my impact there? If it was food, how could I reduce waste there? If it was toiletries, what were my best options?
Every single item on my list—I looked for the most sustainable option. And that was time-consuming. If I needed a backpacking bidet, I would look at all the bidets, research how they were produced, and find the most sustainable one. Same for my pee rag. Same for everything.
That took the most time—going against the grain and not having any frame of reference for how to hike without waste, especially for a long trail. A lot of the information I found was about shorter hikes, where weight isn’t as much of an issue. But when you’re trying to be ultralight or lightweight for a longer trail, weight is an issue. That’s when convenience and plastics usually come in.
Another challenge was making sure my compostable bags actually got composted. Because it doesn’t matter if you use compostable plastic—if you’re not composting it, it’s just going to end up in a landfill and not degrade properly.
So when I got to a town and had my leftover bags from the last stretch, I had to find coffee shops, farms, or people who composted and were willing to take them. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have much trouble, except in Northern California and Northern Washington.
But then the people from Fernweh Foods—the company I got my dehydrated meals from—messaged me and said they could take my compostable bags. So I just mailed them my used bags, and they composted them at home.
That part was more logistical. It took extra time—I wouldn’t say it was hard, but it did take more time.
Meg: Yeah, and I think for a lot of things, whether it's for backpacking or just at home, you're kind of hitting it on the head right now—sometimes it just takes a little more time to discover the right options.
Yeah, or the proper disposal, like you're explaining.
Ana: Exactly. And something like what you share on your Outdoor Minimalist account is so valuable because, a lot of times, we don't know how to identify if something is greenwashing or if it's actually sustainably produced.
That was also something I had to navigate when I was shopping for my gear and looking for things secondhand. I had to ask myself, "Is this really secondhand, or is it new, and they're just saying it's secondhand because it's on eBay?"
Stuff like that just takes more time. But I wouldn’t say it’s harder to do—it’s just a different way of thinking about your actions as a consumer. Sometimes the process takes a little longer, but once you get used to it, it isn’t really that difficult.
Meg: Yeah, exactly. So, I also follow you on Instagram, and I’ve noticed in some of your stories that you’ll sometimes show the grocer or market that you go to. How does shopping for bulk compare in Mexico, where you live, versus what you’ve noticed in the United States?
Ana: It’s way more expensive in the United States. In Mexico, it’s actually really cheap to be zero waste because we have local markets everywhere. It’s just tradition that they have a lot of food in bulk—seeds, nuts, legumes, rice, spices, and a lot of other things. They do give it to you in plastic, but if you take your own bags to the market, then you’re avoiding a lot of waste. That’s how I was used to shopping before.
Then, going into the U.S. and looking for bulk options, I noticed it was more expensive—especially in the more specialized organic markets. If you go to the big grocery stores that cater more toward that lifestyle, it can be pricier.
But I did most of my bulk resupplies for the trail from this grocery store in San Diego that wasn’t expensive at all. The bulk section there was actually way cheaper than many other bulk stores I scouted. So, I think I saved a lot of money there.
But yeah, I was surprised that living zero waste in the U.S., some shops were a bit more expensive than I was used to back home.
Meg: It is weirdly expensive, but I feel like it depends on where you live. I’ve definitely lived in places in the U.S. where there are no bulk options at all, which I find strange. But if you live in a city that offers them, I do find that sometimes bulk is cheaper than packaged food—depending, like you said, on whether it’s organic or not.
Ana: Yeah, if you go to a store like WinCo, where they have a huge bulk section—because a lot of restaurants stock up there—it’s cheaper. If you go to those bigger stores, you can find way cheaper bulk options than if you go to an organic market. But buying organic has its benefits too, so it just depends on what you’re looking for.
Meg: Yeah, for sure. I love WinCo.
You talked a little bit about how, when hiking a long-distance trail like the PCT, your packing list was different from what it would be for a short hike. We can focus just on food packaging if you want, but you can also talk about other types of gear. How would you prepare for a zero-waste shorter trip—like, say, a weekend trip—versus how you prepared for the PCT?
Ana: Well, for a weekend trip, because I’m not so worried about weight, I usually take fresh fruits and vegetables with me because I know they’re not going to perish—I’m going to eat them. I bring glass jars with my own trail mix, and I pack my own containers, maybe Tupperware. I also take mesh bags with trail mix or smaller fruit items. Basically, I use whatever I already have in my everyday life and just put it in my backpack, without worrying about the weight.
I usually carry a metal water bottle since I don’t like to use plastic in general, even if it’s reusable—I try to avoid plastic altogether. I also bring my own cutlery, a cloth napkin, and things like that.
For a thru-hike, though, weight is a bigger concern. One of the main differences was my water bottles. Instead of carrying heavy hard plastic or disposable Smartwater bottles—which I know a lot of thru-hikers use, maybe because it's a cult thing? I’m not sure—I wanted to avoid those. So, I found these collapsible reusable plastic bottles from a brand called CNOC (I’m not sure how it’s pronounced). That’s what I used.
I also had a silicone bag that I used to cold-soak my oats. I didn’t carry my own napkin or full cutlery set—just one wooden spoon, and that was it. Other than that, my gear didn’t differ much.
I usually tell people that the most sustainable piece of gear is the one that already exists—the one you already own, the one a friend has, or something you can find on Reddit or eBay. Just avoiding buying something new just because you think you need it is key.
For my thru-hike, I did need some gear that I didn’t have before. I borrowed some, and I primarily looked for used gear on forums and websites. Most of my gear for the trail was purchased secondhand. If I couldn’t buy it used, then I looked for the most sustainable option with high-quality materials, so it would last a long time. There were only a few pieces of gear that I had to buy new, and I made sure those were produced in a more sustainable way than their competition.
Meg: Yeah, I love that—the most sustainable piece of gear is the one that already exists. That’s a great way to think about it.
Ana: Yeah!
Meg: And it is pronounced CNOC, by the way. If people are interested in learning more about that brand, I actually have an episode with them.
Ana: Oh, yeah, I love them! They have some great stuff.
Meg: Yeah!
Ana: Oh, and I forgot to mention—whether it’s a day hike or a thru-hike, I always carry sunscreen in zero-waste packaging and toothpaste tabs. I usually don’t carry deodorant on a longer trail like a thru-hike, but for a weekend hike, I do bring the deodorant I make at home. I make sure that everything in my toiletry kit comes in zero-waste packaging because these are such small items, and they’re easy to lose.
That actually happened to me on the PCT—I lost my sunscreen stick, which came in a cardboard tube and was made from natural oils and minerals. When I lost it, I was like, "Oh no, I lost my sunscreen," but I wasn’t panicking about polluting the trail.
It just gives me peace of mind knowing that if I accidentally drop something—because we’re all human, and we all drop things—it won’t stay there for 300 years polluting the environment.
Meg: Yeah, I think that's an important distinction—that you're not just focusing on the packaging. The packaging is important, but you're also looking at the ingredients.
Ana: Yeah, because if you do lose it, then it will likely pollute that area.
Meg: Exactly. That’s a great piece of advice.
Ana: For me, the whole reason why I did the trail the way I did and why I try to recreate outdoors in a zero-waste way is because we all love being outside. We love nature, we love hiking in it, swimming in the ocean—just being outdoors. But we shouldn't be damaging it in the process.
If you're wearing sunscreen that is toxic and you go into the ocean, then you're damaging the same ocean you came to enjoy. It’s the same with a trail—if you're hiking but producing waste along the way, even if you're not dropping it on the trail (which a lot of people do, and I found a lot of food wrappers that I would pick up), even if you dispose of it properly in the next town, it still impacts the environment around the trail and the planet as a whole.
So if we can just reduce that impact, I think that would be great.
Meg: You’ve already shared a lot of great information and tips on how to start this journey, but if you were to give someone just one piece of advice—someone who wants to integrate zero-waste practices into their backpacking, whether it’s a short weekend trip, a week-long trip, or a long-distance hike—where would you recommend they start?
Ana: I think food waste is the biggest contributor to waste on a backpacking trip, so I’d say focus there and be prepared. That’s the main thing—reducing your waste comes down to being prepared beforehand.
If you know you're going on a three-day trip, figure out how much food you need and see if you can make your own food ahead of time. If you have the time and means, make your own snacks. If you can buy in bulk using your own bags to avoid plastic waste, do that, and then repackage food in smaller containers you already have at home.
Carry your own water bottle—use something you already own. You don’t need to buy a lot of new things just because you want to start living a zero-waste lifestyle. But if you can avoid using plastics in general, that’s better because then, if you lose something, it’s not going to pollute the environment.
So, focus on food waste first. Once you tackle that, then look at your toiletry kit and see which things you can switch out for zero-waste packaging. A lot of people carry travel-sized toothpaste tubes, shampoo bottles, and other small plastic items, but all of that adds up to a huge amount of waste worldwide. If you can avoid that, that would be the next step.
Meg: I like that you're focusing on an incremental progression—you don’t have to overhaul everything right away.
Ana: Exactly.
Meg: You can just build up to it.
Ana: Oh yeah, otherwise you’d go crazy!
Meg: So if people want to follow along with your zero-waste journey, where can they find you?
Ana: I’m on Instagram as @wastefreePCT. That’s where I shared my hike, but I also keep sharing tips and ways to reduce your impact when recreating outdoors. That’s kind of the direction my account is taking now. So if this resonates with you and you want to learn more about how to reduce your waste outside, I’m there to help!
Meg: Awesome! Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat, Ana. I learned a lot.
Ana: Oh no, thank you, Meg! It was a very inspiring discussion.
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