r/Ultralight • u/patrickpdk • 3d ago
Gear Review Plastic free UL kit?
Interesting - sounds like a great new cottage brand!
https://www.backpacker.com/gear/plastic-free-backpacking-kit/
18
u/kullulu 3d ago
I'm kind of surprised he didn't go for goose down for the filler for his bag.
Neat project though.
10
u/Imnotveryfunatpartys 3d ago
Yeah that was the only suprising thing for me. It's one of the only natural materials that we actually still use lol
8
u/mediocre_remnants 3d ago
Milkweed floss was used to make life vests in WWII, and it's still used today for vegan and hypo-allergenic pillows. I wonder how well it would work for filling a quilt. Some quick Googling suggests it provides more warmth than wool. But it's also harder to work with, requires a lot of manual labor to produce (separating the floss from the seeds), and flattens out pretty quickly so needs to be re-fluffed to maintain insulation.
14
5
u/Financial-Gur-7530 3d ago
This is awesome. I’ve long wondered about how far natural materials could theoretically go in terms of backpacking performance gear, and this guy tested just that. It’s rather impressive, and while still very theoretical, I think that it’s this kind of experimentation that can be built on and further developed. I’d love to use less plastic gear, and do so whenever I can. To know that it is 100% possible(though not yet practical) is very cool
2
u/patrickpdk 3d ago
I'll still be using an air mattress. :)
2
u/Financial-Gur-7530 3d ago
I imagine that a bio-based ccf material is doable
2
u/marieke333 2d ago
There is already biobased ethylene that is used for partly bio-based EVA foam (EVA = ethylene vinyl acetate). The Big Agnes uses this foam in the TwisterCane (60% biobased). Industry is also working on biobased vinyl acetate, the other main compound, but they will also need to develop biobased alternatives for the blowing agents, cross link agents and processing adds.
1
u/runadss 1d ago
Semi-synthetic fabrics aren't plastic, they may or may not use petrolchems to process the natural fibers, but they can be decent for athletic uses. Some say they like bamboo viscose as much as polyester for undergarments for example (though spandex bands still counts as plastic of course).
Maybe not as clean as natural material fabrics, but might be a worthwhile compromise in terms of performance, sustainability and ethics, such as vegans that wouldn't wear wool.
Essentially, I'd be interested in this experiment sans wool.
1
u/Financial-Gur-7530 1d ago
I, perhaps erroneously, refer to non-biodegradable materials as plastic. If I can’t put it in my compost pile, or if it produces anything akin to microplastics with wear, it’s effectively plastic to me.
I’d definitely consider a bamboo or eucalyptus based material to be a better alternative to straight polyester though.
6
u/danceswithsteers 3d ago
One thing that stuck out to me: down is lighter than wool (I presume) and is also a natural material. (Maybe he was going for the warm-ish-while-wet thing? Or maybe down compressed too much under the weight of the shell?)
4
u/schmuckmulligan Real Ultralighter. 2d ago
Dollars to donuts homeboy just didn't want to fuck with filling something with down.
1
1
3
u/Peaches_offtrail https://trailpeaches.com 3d ago
While the kit is plastic free, the Greenhouse Gas emissions intensity for the kit is crazy high with all the merino usage.
4
u/TheDaysComeAndGone 2d ago
“crazy high” is an exaggeration. Producing one kilogram of merino wool emits ~30kg of CO2e. Polyester is ~10kg CO2e. Global CO2 emissions are around ~5t per person and year.
It’s a good point that natural materials are not necessarily more environmentally friendly.
However, I wouldn’t worry too much about the CO2 emissions of camping gear, unless maybe you buy new one several times per year. It’s general over-consumerism which causes issues.
2
u/Peaches_offtrail https://trailpeaches.com 2d ago
Oh, driving and food choices are much higher total emissions, but given how merino degrades quickly and its lifetime vs synthetic, it's probably >10 times the overall lifecycle emissions for the gear
0
u/AdeptNebula 1d ago
3x the emissions is “crazy high” if you scale to the 5t per person a year, making it 15t, no? Polyester is also lighter than merino, so it could be even more than 3x since it’s by mass.
1
u/TheDaysComeAndGone 1d ago
I only mentioned the 5t/person/year as a comparison. For most people (also on a global scale) the greenhouse gas emissions from merino wool are negligible. Meat (and other animal based food items), heating and cars are by far the biggest drivers.
1
1
u/OtherwiseManner6946 3d ago
Cool to see people pushing the boundaries- but isn’t silk crazy bad for the environment anyway?
Also isn’t fragile gear that needs to be replaced more often just even worse?
That said I do like the look of the backpack. I hate the look and feel of DCF personally (but is still great for things like cordage and tarps)
1
u/schmuckmulligan Real Ultralighter. 2d ago
I genuinely love this as a thought experiment brought to life. It's awesome to think about what's possible, and it's especially cool because it gets people to reconsider the potential of natural materials.
But I can't help but reiterate my usual bit about eco-friendly backpacking gear: The biggest impacts we can are the boring, mildly annoying, thoroughly unsatisfying choices we make in our non-hiking lives. It's drinking tapwater from a glass instead of having a Diet Coke. It's skipping clothing purchases when you've still got ratty old tee shirts you can wear on your days off. It's buying food ingredients in bulk, then cooking them at home, rather than grabbing convenience foods. It's reusing the boring crap you DO have ad nauseam, rather than trying to "optimize" by constantly buying ecologically friendly new stuff. Shit like that.
Backpacking gear is a MINISCULE portion of the plastic waste that the average hiker consigns to the landfill. We gravitate toward ecologically friendly choices because we want our gear to be aligned with the spirit of our hobby, but often, we're doing so more from self-serving vanity than a true drive to do the most good we can.
2
u/RokitEightyEight 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's drinking tapwater from a glass instead of having a Diet Coke.
Who hurt you?
1
1
u/patrickpdk 2d ago
Yea, of course. I already optimize that stuff. I think what's interesting here is that some of these are perfectly valid alternatives and there's likely no reason why we need carbon fiber hiking poles.
-1
32
u/bimacar 3d ago
I don't think this is a cottage brand, more of just proof of concept by this dude. Very interesting nonetheless. I was wondering if stuff like that could be made. I wish someone could try tbese things out on a thru hike and report back.