Touring musicians spend a lot of time eating in transit; servo pies, countless cups of coffee, a big mac here and there. The van floor ends up littered with chip packets and plastic water bottles after a few days. It’s gross and inescapable – or is it?

Green Music Australia are an organisation committed to making environmental change in the music industry. Their #BYOBottle campaign aims to end the use of single-use plastic water bottles, instead encouraging bands and punters to choose re-usable bottles instead.

Eliza Klatt, lovely frontlady of Eliza & The Delusionals, has just become a #BYOBottle ambassador. She joins Missy Higgins, Birds of Tokyo, Luca Brasi and many more in the fight against preventable pollution in Australia.

Eliza put together a list of ways her and the band try to reduce their environmental footprint for us:

Eliza’s tips for reducing environmental waste on tour

1. #BYOBottle

“On the road I always bring along my reusable water bottle and keep cup. It makes it so much easier to save on coffee cups and plastic bottles. It’s really cost effective to bring your own water bottle and fill it up, rather than buying one at every stop on a 10 hour drive. On our drinks rider at a gig, we always ask for water jugs and glass cups instead of single use water bottles. This makes it easier to refill our own bottles, or just have no plastic cup wastage at a show.”

2. Sip mindfully

“I carry around an aluminium straw wherever I go, especially on tour. Plastic straws are the worst because they don’t biodegrade, so can cause a lot of harm to the environment particularly if they end up in our waterways. You can get them pretty cheap online or even at Kmart, and they take up next to nothing in terms of space so are easily portable.”

3. Prep your snacks

4. “It can be really tempting to just turn to convenience when touring, but it’s so important to keep in mind that might be at the expense of our environment. We try to buy less plastic-packaged snacks before heading out on the road, and bring enough food to make sure we don’t need to buy packaged food at service stations along the way. Sometimes it can be hard to fully avoid packaged food on a long drive but packing food and bringing reusable containers can always help. Sometimes we bring things like cucumbers, carrot and dips along because they’re super easy to share and to pre-pack at home.”

4. Keep it tidy

“We like to try and separate the recycling and rubbish when we stop at service stations or rest stops to limit unnecessary landfill waste as much as possible. Also this should be a given for most people, but we never throw any rubbish out the window – you never know where it might end up!”

5. Conscious Cosmetics

“As someone who loves makeup and colouring my hair, it’s really important to know which companies own the brands you use and if they’re potentially using ingredients that harm the environment, or if they support animal testing. I also like to make sure what I bring on tour with me isn’t going to create unnecessary waste, or damage to the waterways and environment in general. Choosing cosmetics and hair dye with recyclable or limited packaging can go a long way in reducing your impact.”

Listen to the latest Eliza & The Delusionals single below:

The article was originally published on Don't Bore Us