ArcaMax

Got your reusable water bottle?

In honor of Earth Day (Sunday, April 22), let's remember how easy it is to do your bit to help end plastic pollution when you are traveling -- and teach the kids a lesson in the process.

You can download a Plastic Pollution Primer and see how well you do using #lessplastic. Earth Day 2018 will focus awareness on the damage caused by plastic, including poisoning and injuring marine life, littering beaches and clogging landfills. Did you know plastics, invented in 1907, are one of the most commonly littered items?

When you are traveling, there are many small things you and your kids can do to travel greener:

-- Reusable water bottles. Some hotels, like the newly renovated Hotel Spero in San Francisco and Chaa Creek Lodge in Belize, give every guest a water bottle when they check in. Encourage hotels to offer water-filling stations with fruit- or cucumber-infused water.

Cambodia's first plastic-free hotel, Jaya House RiverPark, is leading a consortium of more than 40 members at the foot of Angkor Wat to replace one-use plastic bottles with reusable aluminum ones refillable at designated spots across the city. So far the Refill Not Landfill has been credited with keeping more than a million plastic bottles out of landfills.

-- Say no to plastic straws. The 21c Museum Hotels have joined the #stopsucking movement by eliminating single-use plastic straws from their beverage service, part of the Lonely Whale, a nonprofit organization founded by actor and activist Adrian Grenier. Guests who request straws will receive biodegradable paper ones instead. Red Carnation Hotels in London and elsewhere have banned all single-use plastic straws and are also switching to biodegradable paper ones.

-- Carry a fold-up reusable tote for souvenirs and groceries, and say no to plastic bags. Get one with the logo of where you're visiting and it will be a conversation starter when you take it shopping at home.

-- Turn off the lights and the AC in your hotel room when you leave. European hotels typically require you to put your room key in a slot in order to turn on the lights, but hotels here -- even small ones -- are getting on the bandwagon, too. The 45-room Mayton Inn in Cary, North Carolina, for example, has infrared sensors that can detect if a guest has entered or exited a room and then adjust the temperature accordingly.

-- Reuse towels. See if your hotel will give you a credit or extra loyalty points if you refuse housekeeping and towel changes, as do Starwood Hotels through their Make a Green Choice initiative.

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