Minimum-impact camping in the front woods - includes techniques for minimum impact camping - Environmental Literacy at Camp

Camping Magazine, Jan-Feb, 1994 by Curt Schatz

Food and Food Wastes

Minimum-impact camping practices stress three things about food:

1. Purchase food with minimal packaging, and use only reusable packaging for what you carry.

2. Prepare just enough, and eat it all.

3. Dispose of food carefully and in an environmentally friendly manner.

All three of these concepts apply in the developed camp setting as well.

While kitchens are often hidden from participants' view, the way they are managed can carry a highly visible message. By purchasing foods in bulk with minimal packaging, and by minimizing the use of non-reusable re-packaging and serving materials, kitchen operations can become somewhat more environmentally friendly. Resident camp food services should avoid using single-serving beverage containers, plastic utensils, and paper or styrofoam serving materials. Similarly, day camp operations should avoid single-use beverage containers, and should encourage all participants to carry food in reusable containers.

Program and food-service staff should encourage participants to pack or take no more food than they intend to eat. This minimizes disposable waste and makes it less likely that participants will be tempted to feed the animals that share the camp environment.

Finally, it is important for food service (as well as for the rest of the camp) to dispose of waste properly. When it is possible, food wastes should be corn posted. Recyclables should always be separated from non-recyclables, and all waste should be stored in sealed containers - dumpsters with latches, or some similar structure - to keep the waste in, and the animals out.

Soap

In back-country camping, soap is a significant source of pollution. It is, of course, less of a problem in developed camps, but it is nonetheless an issue.

All camps should encourage the use of biodegradable soaps. Those camps that do not make shower houses available to program participants need to offer some sort of washing facility with a working drain field, septic system, or sewer connection to ensure that soap is not used in an area where it will have negative environmental effects. Camps should inspect their drain fields or septic systems annually to make certain they are functioning properly and are not contaminating surface or ground water in the vicinity of the camp.

Human Wastes

Adequate sanitary facilities are important in every camp. These facilities should be accessible to ensure that they are used, and the program should emphasize that back country waste disposal techniques are not appropriate in a developed camp setting. While urinating in the woods may be appropriate in a wilderness setting, it is not appropriate in a developed camp setting. Camps using outhouses must be particularly attentive to their condition, or it is likely that many participants will prefer the woods.

When it is feasible, camps should consider installing composting outhouses. These facilities dispose of human waste in a manner that is particularly environmentally friendly. They can be well-designed and relatively inexpensive, compared to the cost of installing a new facility with a septic system.