WinnieBs for a Better Tomorrow: Making Sustainable RVing Fun!

WinnieBs for a Better Tomorrow: Making Sustainable RVing Fun!
Tips for making a difference in the areas you visit by cleaning up with friends.
By: Merrisa Petersen

Hey everyone! Merrisa here again to remind you of the importance of the Leave No Trace principle and how we can all come together to leave our trails and campsites better than we found them. My favorite thing about vanlife is being able to get away from the chaos of the city and park in a beautiful location off the beaten path. 

The only thing that ruins this experience? TRASH. There is nothing worse than arriving at a dispersed campsite only to find it covered in litter. As RVers, there is absolutely no reason for us to leave trash behind - we all carry some sort of garbage can or trash bag. 

So, how can we make picking up trash fun? Invite a few friends to join you! 

GNR WinnieBs Cleanup 

This year at GNR, the WinnieBs, a WIT Club special interest group for campervans, hosted a trash cleanup called “Bees for a better world.” All rally attendees were invited to participate in the challenge and each person received a compostable, reusable bag, a safety vest, and a ‘Save the World’ button as a token of appreciation. 

We set aside time during GNR to clean up the rally grounds as well as the local area. Each participant weighed their filled bags and logged their progress throughout the event to try and reach our final goal of five hundred pounds of trash. 

Although we didn’t reach our goal, it was a blast connecting with attendees and sharing ways that we can give back to the world around us. We hope that this cleanup will encourage other clubs and chapters to start their own group cleanups at rallies in the future.  It is such an incredible sight to see people from all over the country come together with one common goal in mind - to clean up the lands around us. 

It is so easy to pick up trash when you make it a fun competition, and it goes by fast when others join in. A little bit here and there goes a long way!

Tips for Starting Your Own Outdoor Cleanup

Inspired to get involved? Grab some friends and start a challenge to see who can pick up the most garbage in a matter of a few days. This is most fun if done in person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it with friends from afar! 

Want to join a sustainability group but don’t know where to look? Check out these online communities (or create your own!):

• Join a Leave No Trace event.
• Become a Wild Keeper ambassador through Keep Nature Wild - a group that promotes small acts that make big impacts. They provide you with a community resource and the education to know how to dispose of waste properly.
• The Litterati app (available for Android and iOS) helps connect you to an online community of like-minded people and allows you to challenge others from all around the country to participate in cleanups. This app makes picking up trash a fun and social experience. 
• Start a cleanup with others at a rally or meetup.

Of course, there are many other ways to be a more sustainable RVer, and challenging yourself to do so in a fun or creative way makes it even more enjoyable.

As always, just remember to love your Mother!

Feel free to follow my sustainable RVing journey: @_girlgonenomad