Circular cabin life with På(fyll)
Cabin by the sea, in the woods or in the mountains? Here are three tips on how to make your cabin holiday more sustainable this summer - and your cabin cleaning a little easier.
When the school holidays start and the sun begins to warm up, it’s as if the forest and mountains are calling out to us. ‘Go to the cabin! You'll find peace and quiet here again!’ We pack our bags with hiking trousers, swimwear and a good book, and head for your own little holiday paradise. Norwegians are the world leaders in the number of holiday homes per capita - we love our cabins.
Cinnamon from 1992 and great-grandmother’s old lace tablecloths. Old consumption habits still linger in the walls of Norwegian cabins. But as we become more modern, with higher standards of living and cabin cosiness, the holiday home is following suit (the outhouse is currently only used by around 10% of Norwegian cabins!) How can we make our cabin holidays more sustainable?
Three tips for greener cabin use
1. Reuse furniture and interiors
Most Norwegians love to redecorate, and we do it at the cabin too. Before you fill up your IKEA trolley with new furnishings, take a look through the storage room and cupboards at home. Perhaps you have one bed linen set too many, or blankets you can take to the mountains? Reusing what you already have at home, or buying second-hand on Finn.no or Facebook Marketplace, gives your cabin a more unique character and is much more sustainable than buying new furniture. A fresh coat of paint makes old pine furniture look fresh again.
2. Share the joy of your cabin
One of the most sustainable things you can do is to let others use or rent your cabin and enjoy it when you're not there. Of the 450,000 holiday homes in Norway, around 70% of them are empty for ten out of twelve months of the year.
Perhaps you know someone who wants to enjoy their cabin as much as you do? There are also digital platforms that allow you to rent out your cabin when it's empty - so you can earn a little extra holiday money while contributing to circular cabin use.
3. Fill up the cabin - from home
Cabins also need to be cleaned. The next time you pack the car, ready for your cabin trip, bring the På(fyll) containers you already have at home. Fill up soap dispensers or old soap containers at the cabin, and take the containers home again when you return.
That way, you’ll reduce your plastic use even more, ensure you have soap and such for the next time you visit, and avoid using the cupboard space in your cabin for large disposable detergent bottles - which are likely to expire before they're used up.
Do you need a soap dispenser for your cabin? Read more about the infinity dispensers you can order with the next På(fyll).
