The quantity of waste produced and how park visitors dispose of it (recycling some materials) is a growing concern for park managers. Handling park waste costs money, involves significant effort, and requires human and natural resources that tax parks to the extreme. And with numbers of visitors increasing, managers are looking for strategies to increase diversion of recyclable materials from landfills and reduce the overall amount of waste produced in national parks.
“Many park managers prefer to take a light-handed approach to these kind of challenges — using strategies like better communication rather than enforcement,” said Zach Miller from the Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism at USU, and lead author on recently published research on this topic. “This style of management requires fewer resources, leaves visitors happier, and matches the independent park experience people are seeking in these places.”
Waste management has been studied in urban settings, but it is new territory for national parks. That’s why the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, the organization leading the Zero Landfill Initiative research project, reached out to Miller and Dr. Derrick Taff at Penn State University to collaborate on studies in three national parks to better understand what kinds of strategies might work to reduce the amount of waste generated in parks while also diverting more recyclable materials away from landfills.