I'd rather be geocaching

My number one favourite hobby is geocaching. If you don't know what that is, please visit www.geocaching.com and check it out, because it's awesome. In a nutshell: geocaching is a treasure hunting game where you use a GPS to hide and seek containers hidden by other geocachers. So basically, I use multi-million dollar satellites to look for Tupperware in the woods.

These caches, if large enough, typically hold items for trading when the cache has been found. You take one, you leave one, etc.. Normally, you find little toys and knickknacks. Sometimes you find really cool stuff. I have a cutlery set for travelling that I found in a geocache. There are also trackable items with a code on them that you can enter on the website and see everywhere it's been in the world.

Why am I talking about this? I just wanted to give a little insight for those who don't know what it is before I talk about what I do to make it as green a hobby as possible.

First, all the items I trade are not purchased new, but usually given to me by people who wish to declutter (My mother-in-law gave me a collectors spoon with a lovely First Nations design just last week.), or found at the Free Store (the trade shed at the dump). Occasionally, I will purchase some neat little things at the thrift store. Reusing unwanted items, rather than increasing the need for new materials.

Second, the containers I use to make new geocaches are never new. I use yogurt containers. Peanut butter containers. Margarine, pill and ice cream containers.* I remodel birdhouses to become the container. The bags I use to help keep the logbook and trade items dry are usually bread bags that I get my mother to save for me. (I also use these for my litter removal.)

And anyway, this hobby usually requires hiking or canoeing or they are right in town. So it gets me outside, which I love and is good for me. It's a little harder in the winter, especially since I have already a found every cache within 50km.

So! What's your hobby? And what do you do to try to make it as green as possible?

*I would like to add as a side note that these containers are purchased due to no alternative for these items in my town otherwise. Believe me, I miss having my milk in reusable glass jugs. But we just don't have those amenities here. I will be purchasing my peanut butter from the next town over in a reused glass jar from now on, but my husband still loves his Skippy. And I try to buy the largest size of everything possible. More volume typically require less surface area to contain it per unit.