Leave no trace: a guide to sustainable camping

As more Australians head outdoors in search of nature and adventure, increased visitation is placing pressure on fragile ecosystems. Jane Hone explores the practical steps campers can take to reduce their impact and help protect the places they love.

There’s nothing like camping: unzipping your tent and breathing in the fresh air; making your morning cup of coffee to the soundtrack of birds; falling asleep with the twinkling night sky above you.

And it seems that more and more people are waking up to the magic of Australia’s wild places. Caravan and camping trips numbered 17.3 million in Australia in 2025 — an increase of 14% from the year prior, according to the Australian Government’s Trade and Investment Commission.

With that many of us venturing outdoors, it’s important to consider not only the ways in which time in nature impacts us, but the impact we’re having on the natural world as well.

The trouble with camping
While most campers aren’t setting out to disrupt the environment around them, something that seems as innocent and innocuous as walking around a muddy track (instead of on it), for instance, can damage the landscape’s delicate flora.

The things we leave behind have an impact, too, including substances such as toothpaste, washing detergent, body soap and sunscreen, all of which can end up affecting plants, animals and waterways.

Wildlife can be disturbed through being fed by humans, having their trails disrupted and the effects of noise and light pollution.

Then there are fires, which can cause damage ranging from scarring the earth to the obvious, worst-case scenario of bushfire.

While most of Australia’s camping trips (68%) happen in commercial sites, according to government data, those looking to get off the beaten track are increasingly enabled by social media and way-finding apps.

Tim Ashelford, Managing Director at online outdoor adventures publication We Are Explorers, says that only certain places have the infrastructure to support large numbers of visitors and, “If it’s a new spot that’s become really popular, avoiding that spot might help ease the impact.”

As for which among tents, swags, cars or caravans is the least impactful on the environment, it depends on factors such as how and where you’re camping, and how far you’re travelling. A tent, for example, requires less power than a caravan, but is more likely to be set up in a vulnerable wild place. Like many aspects of camping, working out best practice requires research and forethought that considers your circumstances.

In fact, ‘Plan ahead and prepare’ is the first step in the Leave No Trace philosophy adhered to by sustainable campers worldwide.

In the world of multi-day music festivals, the lack of planning among those camping—many of whom are not regular campers, or are camping for the very first time—results in a headache where poor quality tents and other equipment end up broken and abandoned at the festival site.

Australian non-profit organisation Green Music, which partners with local festival organisers to improve sustainability, has created an app called Camping Buddy to reduce waste. Camping Buddy helps festival-goers plan what they need to take with them, so they’re less likely to buy a cheap tent at the very last minute.

Luke Logemann, project lead on Green Music’s Party With the Planet campaign, says the Camping Buddy app can be used by anyone going camping, in a festival setting or not, to help plan ahead.

Camping sustainably
Seasoned campers know to look in all directions for hazards when deciding where to set up camp. Those wanting to camp sustainably have even more factors to consider.

Tom Hiney, wildlife guide and co-founder of Australia’s first palm oil free sunscreen, SunButter, goes camping several times a year with his young family in a mixture of free camp spots and more established campgrounds—sometimes in swags and other times in a camper trailer. They offset their carbon emissions with Greenfleet, which plants native forests, and use the app Anycamp to research campgrounds before their trips.

“It helps you filter for a variety of things, such as free camp spots, those that have showers and so on,” says Hiney.

If visiting a campground with less traffic than your standard holiday park, it’s important to set up at a designated site (as opposed to traipsing through the bush to find your own spot).

“Otherwise, you could be setting up on, say, fragile alpine grasses or native orchids,” says Hiney.

In wild places, Hiney suggests doing a little reconnaissance and looking for wildlife scat, tracks and trails that might indicate that the spot is a thoroughfare for animals.

Take it out with you
As per the Leave No Trace philosophy, responsible camping means everything you bring in with you should be “packed out” when you leave.

“Once you pull your tent down and take all your pegs with you, you should not be able to tell that someone was there,” says Ashelford.

Human waste should be dug 15 centimetres deep and at least 100 metres away from a water source—or, better still, taken with you.

The substances we put into the environment while camping need to be considered, too. Hiney and Ashelford both use tooth powder when camping, which is a low-tox alternative to toothpaste. Eco-friendly soap bars offer a low-impact, plastic-free option for washing your body, clothes and dishes (some, such as Go For Zero, are toxin-free and wash both laundry and dishes).

Anything else that is on your skin, such as deodorant, skincare, sunscreen and insect repellent, should be as low-tox and biodegradable as possible, and also rinsed off your body, away from water sources, before entering any waterways.

Hiney and his wife shop at bulk food stores and plan meals before camping, only take food with them that they will actually eat, and take reusable containers, because even packaging labelled as compostable is often only compostable in industrial settings. Hiney brings dehydrated fruit over fresh fruit when hiking, because “nobody’s bringing fruit peel and cores back with them”.

To reduce the need to bring bottled water in places where there is a water source, Hiney brings a Steripen, which is charged via USB, sterilises water in seconds, and can be used around 50 times off a single charge.

Leave it as you found it
Another principle of the Leave No Trace movement—‘Leave what you find’—might seem obvious in terms of not removing anything from the landscape, but Hiney points out that campers and hikers also need to be mindful of what’s on their shoes and clothing. The seeds of invasive plant species can hitch a ride on velcro, for instance, and travel with you to a different region.

The best practice with fires, apart from not starting one at all, is to use existing fire pits. “Starting a new fire, even if you put rocks around it, you’ll create a fire scar and nothing will grow below where you start that fire,” explains Ashelford. Foldable fire pits, available from camping shops, are another good option as they elevate the fire above the ground. According to Ashelford these are hotter, cleaner and easier to manage than regular fires.

Other pollutants are less front of mind. Playing music or parking a car with the engine running and headlights beaming while you set up camp might seem harmless, but noise and artificial light at night can disturb wildlife behaviour and, in the case of light pollution, disrupt their circadian rhythms.

To lessen your impact, use dim lighting with a warm glow. If using a head torch, Hiney suggests finding one with a red light, as this is less disruptive to animals with night vision.

Sustainable gear and equipment
Green Music estimates that a typical tent or gazebo contains as much plastic as 8,750 plastic straws — so it’s no small deal when one of these items is broken and discarded. In a world where it’s increasingly easy to buy things cheaply and at the last minute, it’s important to think about both the longevity of camping gear and the materials it’s made from.

Ashelford says one of the biggest innovations in hiking gear is the use of recycled fabrics, which you now see in some of the more premium outdoor brands, and in products that are genuinely long-lasting.

NEMO, for example, makes tents from its own proprietary 100% recycled OSMO fabric, which is PFAS-free and designed for durability.

“[Brands] are actually managing to make these really high-tech fabrics, but you do have to pay for it,” says Ashelford.

Looking for products that are Bluesign certified can take the guesswork out of shopping for sustainable gear. Bluesign certification indicates that the item has been ethically made in terms of worker safety and water and energy usage, as well as using materials determined to have a low impact on the environment.

Examples of brands with Bluesign-certified products or components include Patagonia (which also allows customers to return items for repair), Kathmandu, The North Face, Arc’teryx, Osprey, Deuter, Burton, Thule, Helly Hansen and Dope Snow.

Another option is to rent or borrow equipment from friends or businesses such as Good Intentions (who upcycle good quality gear left behind at festivals) and Wallaroo.

Energy efficiency
For off-grid camping that is slightly more elaborate than a torch and Esky setup, there are a few options for power sources.

Generators are often favoured because they provide fast, reliable energy regardless of the weather, which is helpful if you have several large appliances to power. They can also power your appliances directly, as opposed to needing to charge a battery first.

Of course, the problem with generators from an environmental perspective is that they require petrol or diesel to run. Ashelford points out that generators also create a decent amount of noise pollution, which is why they are banned at some campgrounds.

Solar panels can be used to charge batteries or portable power stations—the latter of which are becoming more popular due to their all-in-one simplicity and their ability to also be charged by a wall outlet, alternator or (slowly), a 12-volt car socket.

Hiney uses a solar blanket and battery set-up when using the camper trailer, which he says “powers everything we need” — in his family’s case, a fridge, lights and phones.

Some electric vehicles (those with Vehicle-to-Load, or V2L) have the advantage of being able to use the car itself as a power source, and can power even energy-hungry appliances such as kettles, coffee machines and camping fridges.
For most recreational campers, reduced fuel consumption and noise mean that solar-and-battery systems are generally the lower-impact option, although manufacturing and end-of-life disposal should be considered.