‘Leave no trace’ – explanation and tips

The principle of ‘leave no trace’ aims to protect nature. The most obvious aspect is to take any rubbish generated during your outdoor activities with you and dispose of it at the next opportunity when you return to civilisation. But there’s plenty more to consider to protect vegetation and animals.

The seven principles of ‘leave no trace’

Planning and preparation

Find out about the area or region that your outdoor activity will take you to. This entails educating yourself about wildlife rest zones, nature reserves and protection zones for nesting birds, for instance.

Walk and camp on durable terrain

Stay on marked trails and avoid damaging vegetation. Make sure not to widen the path, either – it’s better to walk one after the other than next to each other. If you’re bivouacking, pitch your tent on durable terrain and follow the other rules for bivouacking. It’s better to erect your tent at a campsite than go wild camping because you can use pre-existing infrastructure there.

It’s a different story when your adventure takes you to places without any paths or campsites. In these cases, always pitch your tent in a different place to prevent the natural environment from being overburdened and ensure it can recover quickly. In addition, make sure that you don’t trample the landscape to create paths; this destroys nature.

Dispose of waste correctly

Take all your rubbish – including apple cores, banana peels and other organic waste – with you. The same applies when staying overnight in a hut: take snack packaging and other rubbish with you back down into the valley. The huts have to arrange for rubbish to be flown down by helicopter – it’s easier for you to take it in your backpack.

On some adventures, you also have no option but to answer a call of nature in the great outdoors. Bury your faeces and take any toilet paper with you to dispose of in the next bin you come across.

When it comes to your own hygiene or washing dishes, use biodegradable soap and don’t wash yourself and your kit in water directly. You’re better off pouring some water into a folding basin or a bottle and washing a few metres away, as this prevents the soap from getting straight into the water.

Preserve nature

Don’t take anything from nature – that, too, changes it. Don’t pick flowers, don’t take stones home as souvenirs and don’t collect any shells, either.

Avoid campfires

Making dinner on a gas stove by the light of a camping lamp or headlamp is much kinder to nature than cooking over a fire. A fire may well be nice and warm, but it also damages the soil and the organisms that live in it: it often takes several years for the terrain to recover. If you still want to light a fire, bear the following in mind:

• Use pre-existing fire pits.

• Keep the fire small.

• Make sure everything is completely burned off and extinguished before you leave the area.

Respect wild animals

Wild animals aren’t used to humans – and they should stay that way. So, don’t touch the animals and keep as far away from them as possible. Don’t feed them, either: human food can damage their health and change their natural behaviour. That’s why you should make sure to wrap up both food and rubbish well to avoid attracting wild animals. When hiking with your dog, keep your four-legged friend under control at all times so that it doesn’t startle wild animals.

Show consideration

Be considerate of your fellow human beings so that everyone can enjoy the great outdoors. Only scream and shout in an emergency; only listen to music through headphones.

Tips: how to ‘leave no trace’

It’s easier to ‘leave no trace’ if you make things simpler for yourself when outdoors. For example, that means only taking packaging with you if you really have to; if possible, dispose of it at home. For longer trips, it helps to decant food into reusable or fabric bags – you can portion out each day’s quantity so you don’t have to carry too much. If you go shopping while out on your adventure, it’s best to decant everything while you’re in the shop and dispose of the plastic packaging there and then.

Some things just can’t be decanted, and you’ll always accumulate small pieces of rubbish, such as chewing gum, tea bags and leftover bits of packaging. That’s why it’s worth taking a rubbish bag with you that can be tied up tight and stowed away in your bag.

Loose items such as tissues can easily get lost. Make sure you fasten any zips and buckles before you move on to avoid leaving anything behind unintentionally.

Spotted a piece of rubbish while out and about? Pack it up and dispose of it in the nearest bin, so you can leave the place cleaner than you found it.