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Project Story
🚗 Backroads & Biodegradables
A slow-travel inspired mission to replace plastic with handcrafted, biodegradable travel essentials.
It all began on a rainy afternoon drive through the Lake District.
We were meandering down narrow, hedge-lined backroads in a rust-red vintage Fiat, boot packed with sandwiches, flasks, and hand-me-down walking boots. It felt like the perfect escape — until the litter bins told a different story. Single-use wrappers. Plastic cutlery. Bags from takeaway stops and service stations.
That contrast between nature’s quiet and plastic’s permanence made something clear:
Even the slowest journeys leave a fast trail of waste.
🎒 The Project
Backroads & Biodegradables is a crowdfunded campaign to design and distribute eco-travel kits — compact, elegant bundles of everyday essentials made from biodegradable or reusable materials.
Each kit is:
- Beautifully hand-packed in a stitched cotton or jute pouch
- Designed to replace 5–8 common single-use travel items
- Produced in small batches by UK-based eco-makers and independent artisans
- Tagged with a digital storycard so you know who made what, and how your support helped
These aren’t mass-made products — they’re handcrafted tools for thoughtful travel.
🌿 What’s Inside the Kit?
- Bamboo toothbrush & toothpaste tablets (cruelty-free)
- Handmade soap wrapped in recycled paper
- Reusable wooden cutlery & cloth napkin
- Foldable cotton bag (for market stops & coffee runs)
- A hand-stitched upcycled-paper travel journal
- Optional: small wallet or key pouch from offcut fabric
Toss it in your glovebox or backpack — and quietly keep the world cleaner wherever you go.
🧶 Who’s Making It?
We’re collaborating with:
- Independent textile artisans in the South West
- Soap makers and zero-waste product creators across the UK
- Local cooperatives and makers’ spaces in rural towns
- A social enterprise in Wales supporting marginalised women through crafts
Each piece in the kit supports fair wages, low-impact production, and community resilience.
🎯 What We’re Funding
Your support will help us:
- Source sustainable materials from UK suppliers
- Fairly pay our artisan collaborators
- Assemble and ship the first 100–200 kits
- Package each kit with a storycard + digital badge
If funded, we’ll also:
- Launch a “Plastic-Free Pitstop” pilot with select cafés and B&Bs
- Share downloadable eco-travel guides and curated scenic routes
- Develop a refill model so travellers can top up kits without waste
❤️ Why It Matters
Yes, plastic-free alternatives exist. But most are expensive, generic, or wrapped in greenwashing.
Backroads & Biodegradables isn’t just a product — it’s a rhythm. A way to travel slower, live cleaner, and honour the people and places you pass through.
It’s a kit with a pulse — one that connects you to the hands that made it and the paths you tread.
📬 You Get More Than a Kit
When you support this project, you receive:
- A handmade eco-travel kit (depending on tier)
- A digital postcard from the artisan group you supported
- A unique digital badge and impact report
- Optional: an eco-themed NFT collectible
And the satisfaction of replacing plastic with purpose
Risks & Challenges
There may be delays in artisan production or regional supply shortages. We’ve partnered with 3 separate producer groups to reduce dependency and maintain timeline flexibility. In case of shipping delays, updates will be transparently shared via email and project dashboard.
elliemorgan
ellie@biotravel.co.uk
Ellie Morgan is a sustainability advocate and the founder of Backroads & Biodegradables, a project born out of her love for slow travel and the English countryside. With a background in sustainable tourism and community-led enterprise, Ellie works at the crossroads of mindful exploration and ecological responsibility. Based in Bristol, she collaborates with ethical artisans to craft biodegradable travel kits that let adventurers tread lighter — from the Lake District to the Cornish coast.