Sustainability

We at Longyearbyen Camping care about the environment!
No need to say that sleeping in a tent, heating up your sleeping-bag with your own body, is the most sustainable way to stay somewhere.
Choosing Longyearbyen Camping is your choice.
Our contribution is how we operate this campsite.

Water pollution

Because all waste water of Longyearbyen ends up in the fjord, we only use biodegradable detergents for cleaning the building, tents and doing the laundry or dishes.
It would be great if you do so too, or at least use microplastic free soap, shampoo, body lotion, make up etc. If you are uncertain if the products you use are free of micro plastic, you can check it at the website of the Plastic Soup Foundation: https://www.beatthemicrobead.org

Waste reduction

No, there is no breakfast or dinner served at our campsite, you have to make your own.
Therefore there are no leftovers and we minimize food waste. :-)
Because even for yourself you prepare sometimes to much, we encourage you to share if you have too much.
With this action, you make friends and you reduce food waste.
And if you are leaving, and you don't want to take half a package of oat, rice, pasta or a tin of tuna home, you can leave it in our cupboard in the kitchen. The person who'll arrive with the plane you left, will probably be happy to find some food upon arrival.
In the bathrooms you'll find a box where you can leave shampoo etc.

Avoiding waste completely is impossible, and the least thing we can do is to sort.
Longyearbyen Camping rents two containers for sorting waste.
Metal, glass, paper & cardboard does not belong to the general waste.
General waste may not be deposit in opaque garbage bags. At the waste plant they need to be able to see what it is.
Batteries or gas cartridges never belong into any waste container, they have to be handled as hazardous substance.

Have you ever heard of the brand Fairphone?
Fairphone is a Dutch company. Their phones are built to last, with 8 years of software updates end easy to repair yourself. The used materials are recycled or responsible mined and the factory workers have good working conditions and income.
We use a Fairphone since 2015. We repaired our FP2 ourselves and it lasted 8 years. Since 2023 we own a FP4. The longer you can keep your phone, the smaller its environmental footprint.
https://www.fairphone.com

Energy

You heat up your sleeping-bag with your body, this means we don't have to heat up rooms, except the service building.
The kitchen has two water boilers, this is the most efficient way to heat water. The heating works with a timer, so we don't heat at night.
The renewed bathrooms have floor heating for your comfort. The showers are limited to 6 minutes per token. This saves hot water, and more people will be able to take a shower before the boiler runs empty.

Education

Every campsite manager has taken the local SGO- guide course and therefore will be able to tell you more about the life and nature of Spitsbergen. They know the laws of the government and nature. Please, take their advice.

The lagoon in front of the campsite is a bird sanctuary, and hosts 64 species of birds. From June 1. - August 15. it cannot be entered because of birds breeding. Longyearbyen Camping is asked to keep an eye on it, to avoid disturbance. In case this is noticed, the campsite managers will call everyone back as this is of importance for the bird population.
More information can be found on the website of LoFF/Birdlife Svalbard
https://www.birdlife.no/organisasjonen/fylkesavdelinger/longyearbyen/nyheter/?id=3282

Over the years, Longyearbyen Camping has hosted many researching scientists.
Geologist Dr. Karsten Piepjohn is one of them, he made several posters about the geology of Svalbard, which are on permanent exhibition in our service building, framed by a frame of locally found driftwood, made by the local carpenter Alti3.

Contribution to local society

You might wonder how a small campsite can contribute to local society.

Buy locally

Also a small campsite needs to be maintained, and although it might be much cheaper to get our resources online, we choose to buy locally.
We purchase paint at Maler Anderssen, without Assemblin and JM Hansen, there would not be water and heat. Our bathrooms were made by Svalbard Bygg, the posts and gates of the fence come from the local carpenter Alti3.

Housing solutions

It is not easy for people to find housing in Longyearbyen.
The campsite have special rates for those affected by this problem.
We offer special rates for long-term staying, and to guides working at and around the archipelago.

Art

The environment of Spitsbergen and the view form the campsite is very inspiring!
If you are an artist and you want to stay at Longyearbyen Camping, please contact us.
Longyearbyen Camping supports art!

Furthermore…

Outside the season our service building has been used for celebrations, a concert, overwintering, courses, aurora watch for a local company etc.

But… no we don't have any official certifications or labels, as we are a small company and we can't effort the audits for it. If we choose to do so, it means we have to double the price for everything.