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Visiting Siem Reap? Make your trip low impact and help reduce plastic pollution in Cambodia. Here’s how!
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This post is brought to you by Sarah from Plastic Free Cambodia.
Traveling plastic free (or plastic reduced) is easier than you’d expect. It will make your travels better for the place you’re visiting.
The famous saying ‘take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints’ is more important than ever. Many travelers to Cambodia leave a huge plastic footprint behind. But you don’t have to!
We’ve done the research so you can follow these steps and enjoy your trip!
Things to Pack Before You Leave Home
- Drink bottle
- Tote bag
- Compact container or lunch box
**Bonus** If you’re a serious coffee drinker then you might also want to bring a travel mug. Around Asia, a lot of people find traveling with a bamboo straw helpful as well. It helps with communication to have a visual cue to show a server.
1. Drink Bottle
Before your trip, get a reusable drink bottle. Most restaurants will say yes to a request for a glass of filtered water when you dine in and if you want to refill your bottle. Refilling your bottle is becoming even more accessible thanks to Refill Not Landfill. Check Refill Not Landfill’s handy map on their website to find water refill locations around Siem Reap.
**Extra points ** When you go to the temples there aren’t water refill locations (yet), so be prepared and pack water. Better still, book your temple visit with responsible tour companies that don’t use plastic bottles like Journeys Within Our Community or Adventure Travel Co.!
2. Tote Bag
In Cambodia plastic bags are used for everything and anything! Can of drink? Have a bag. Souvenir? Have a bag! Instead, bring a compact foldable tote bag. Politely say ‘no thanks’ and put your purchases in your tote.
3. Compact Container or Lunch Box
I find this useful to avoid extra packaging, additional plastic bags and even worse…styrofoam! Styrofoam is highly toxic and a huge blight on the environment. Avoid styrofoam to protect your health as well. When ordering food to go, give your container to the waiter at the same time they take your order.
Here are a few examples.
Click the images below to see the details.
Start at the Airport
Your journey to reducing your plastic footprint starts at the airport. You’ll be surprised at how much plastic you can save by keeping your drink bottles on hand for the flight. While bottles do need to be empty for the security check, more and more airports are providing free filtered water on the other side. Save the environment and money!
You can avoid disposable cups during your flight by using a travel mug for coffee, juice or even wine! Ask the flight attendant nicely and they’re usually happy to do it.
Say no to any extras you don’t need; disposable hand towels, sweets, bottled water (because you brought your own!).
When you Arrive in Siem Reap
When you arrive at your hotel ask where the refill locations are or just have a look around. They’re usually easily accessible.
Then get out there and enjoy Siem Reap!
Did you know? Every piece of plastic ever made still exists today!
Beyond Reducing Your Plastic Output
You can also support organizations doing great work on protecting Cambodia’s incredible wildlife and environment.
Here’s a brief list of projects to support:
- ReHash Trash run crochet workshops so you can learn about their program. It’s fun and supports their work.
- Sam Veasna Center runs birding and wildlife trips. Proceeds from their tours go to conservation projects around the country.
Dine Out at Eco-Friendly Cafes and Restaurants in Siem Reap
Here are a few of our favorites:
- Haven (make sure you book ahead)
- Sister Srey Cafe
- The Little Red Fox Espresso
- Kdeung Cafe (Sam Khmer Noodle)
- Banlle Vegetarian Restaurant
- Artillery Cafe
- Footprint Cafe
- New Leaf Café
- Spoons
- Moringa Bar
- Green-Go Vegan and Vegetarian Garden
These are just a few of the genuine eco-minded businesses that support Plastic Free Cambodia and vice versa.
Want more? Check out Plastic Free Cambodia’s website, Facebook or Instagram.
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About the Author
Sarah has worked in the hospitality and tourism industry throughout her career. She has a Masters in Tourism Management where she developed a keen interest in sustainable tourism. Following 4 years working for the South Australian Tourism in online marketing management and project management roles, she undertook training via the Climate Leadership Corps, led by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States. After completing this training Sarah moved to Siem Reap, Cambodia where she worked primarily with the NGO sector and responsible tourism practices, during which time Plastic Free Cambodia was formed. Specialising in training, workshops, and business consulting on the topic and being an inspiring public speaker, Sarah now consults to other countries around Southeast Asia thanks to the knowledge she has derived from her experiences and growing knowledge of climate change and plastic pollution issues in the region. She’s also an avid writer and enjoys writing about travel and the environment.
Brilliant ways to give back to the place that you travel to. I love the non-plastic and reusable bit. I have been attempting to do this a lot more off late and feel it definitely adds my bit to the travel. Thanks for more inspiration for the same.
That’s awesome, Ami! Thanks for reading 🙂
What a great way to reduce plastic from earth. It’s really very important and we all need to do our bit. Wherever we are we should do it. I’d love to see Cambodia as a plastic free country soon. We always carry refillable bottle.
Agreed Nisha, we all need to do our bit. 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
Wow that was a very thoughtfully written post. As travelers we must be more responsible and leave as low carbon footprints as possible. The list of restaurants is truly helpful.
So glad you found it helpful 🙂 Thanks for reading!
I appreciate your efforts in bringing out this piece of writing for creating an awareness on plastic. I will surely use these tips to travel more responsibily. Will right away but a reusable drinking bottle, after all in school days it was the way to have the water, so why not now. Tote bag is also a great suggestion.
Cheers, Himanshu. You’re right, it’s just about changing our habits!
love that you shared the eco-friendly restaurants too. I’m taking notes on this as I support these kinds of restaurants. I haven’t visited Cambodia yet, but this is also helpful for like almost everywhere in the South East Asia where largely are using plastics.
I am also using keep cup as I am such a coffee drinker. It’s totally useful and bamboo straw too. Thanks for keeping this in, as we are always and are needed to be reminded not to use plastics. Hope for more post like this.
Thanks for your comment Ferna! Totally agree, these tips can be used all over Southeast Asia. I recently read that 85% of the plastic that ends up in the ocean comes from rivers in Asia!
Cool post! I have been to Siem Reap and I LOVED exploring day in and day out! I wish I could have practiced these awesome tips when I was there. Thank you for the awesome reminder! At home I try and prevent myself from using plastic straws and I carry a reusable one with me. I also try and remember my own bags when I visit the grocery store!
That’s great Alli! Any steps we can take to reduce single-use plastics are good!
Simple, easy to do things that will have a tremendous positive impact on the environment, not only in Cambodia but everywhere! Thanks for making it so obvious.
Thanks for reading, Carol! Yes, it doesn’t have to be difficult to reduce single-use plastics. It’s all about changing habits!
That is a good and really important topic, which needs everyone’s attention. Yes, we should start reducing it as soon as we enter the airports. Carrying refillables is always a good option.
Absolutely, Suruchi! Plus we can save money not having to buy water inside the airport 🙂
What a great list of helpful ways to reduce plastics in Cambodia! We always use reusable water bottles and reusable totes when travelling – we definitely noticed some countries are better than others with plastic usage. Thanks for the list of eco-friendly restaurants too.
That’s awesome, Hannah. Yes, some countries have figured it out while others still have a long way to go. Stevo and I are living in Bangkok at the moment, and we are blown away by the amount of plastic used at the markets here. It feels nearly impossible to avoid!
OMG I love Siem Reap! Ive been there two years in a row for a few days and spend many breakfasts and lunches at Sister Srey 🙂 Such a great cafe!
We love Sister Srey! Such tasty food, smoothies, and coffee 😀 Are you living in Asia?
We are trying to reduce our plastic at home and when we travel. We always travel with a re-usable bottle. In Canada we often don’t get free plastic bags, so we are well used to having re-usable bags. Great that you provided a list of eco-friendly restaurants!
That’s great, Linda! When looking at how other countries have solved the plastic problem, banning plastic bags seems to be one of the most effective things. It forces people to carry alternatives and changes habits!