National Parks Zero Landfill Initiative

Background

The national park system was created over a century ago to stand as a model of our country’s commitment to preservation and sustainability. That’s why we’ve pledged to make our parks zero landfill, so we can remain at the forefront of doing things a better way.

Together, we are working to significantly reduce waste at our national parks.

Starting with three pilot parks: Denali, Grand Teton and Yosemite.

The Zero Landfill Initiative(ZLI) started in 2015 brought together the National Park Service, National Park Foundation, Subaru of America Inc., National Parks Conservation Association, park concessionaires and surrounding communities who committed to leading efforts to recycle, compost and reuse waste collected from parks, to improve the overall waste management at parks and nearby communities while better protecting the environment.

The Role of Subaru and NPCA in the ZLI

What makes Subaru qualified to spearhead the initiative?

Subaru has been an advocate and friend of the national parks for nearly 20 years, sustaining long-standing partnerships with the National Park Foundation, Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and others. As part of these efforts, they have provided critical support to the preservation of the national parks through their annual “Share the Love” sales event, encouraged the exploration of our national parks via the Centennial Find Your Park campaign, and supported education and conservation efforts such as the Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers program.

The Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) is the first automotive assembly plant in America to be designated as zero landfill. Through their efforts, SIA boasts 100 percent diversion from the landfill through a dynamic combination of process reengineering, source reduction, creative reuse, and recycling.

Subaru, with their deep commitment to the environment and national parks, has brought their manufacturing and zero-landfill expertise to the National Park Service to guide them toward reaching zero-landfill parks. To achieve this goal, Subaru has partnered with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing America’s national parks.

What were the Initiative Objectives?

Foundational to the initiative is alignment with the National Park Service Green Parks and Climate Friendly Parks plans.

The National Parks Zero Landfill Initiative is built around aspirational goals that are unique for each park, although there are several consistencies across all of them.

Through the Initiative, consistent practices include:

• Establishing solid baseline data on waste generation and diversion through source reduction, reuse, composting and recycling.

• Standardizing monthly/annual tracking and shared metrics.

• Setting park-specific zero landfill targets (e.g., diversion rate) that are achievable, yet aspirational.

• Identifing waste redirection opportunities by working with suppliers and vendors and collaborating with other partners.

• Developing and implementing action plans to provide a collaborative framework to leverage:

  — Engagement of diverse stakeholders to scale best practices and solutions

  — Innovation grants from Subaru of America to “incubate” zero-landfill solutions

  — Educational messaging, marketing, and social media to engage employees and visitors

• Building a project framework to support pilot parks and their concessionaire partners to “own” and support the project over time.

What Does Success Look Like?

The Zero Landfill Initiative and active engagement from the three pilot parks supports the following indicators of success:

More Efficient Processes…

A successful implementation of the principles of zero landfill in national parks will show a steady decrease in the amount of waste that is being generated and an increase in the materials being sent for recycling and composting. Although NPS and concessionaires have limited influence on what visitors bring into the park, they do have control over the waste they generate through in-park operations. The action planning process should support programs and polices that promote a steady decrease in the amount of waste being generated from park operations.

Stakeholder Engagement and Marketing Communications:

Critical to project success is educating and engaging employees and external stakeholders within the local and regional gateway communities. Diverse stakeholder engagement helps to balance challenges such as:

• Seasonality of operations

• Employee turnover

• Low population density

• Diversity in visitors/language and cultural differences

• Distance to consistent recycling processing and markets

Key project partners include, but are not limited to the following organizations:

• Local, state and regional governments

• Landfill and transfer Station Operators

• Trash and recycling haulers and processors

• National parks friends groups/local non-profit organizations

• Gateway businesses — including hotels, retailers, outfitters, etc.

• Tour operators (bus and cruise lines)

• Suppliers and vendors and other corporate partners that can help influence visitor behaviors and aid in source reduction and supply-chain improvements

A dynamic education and marketing campaign supports the project and spreads the word to visitors; influencing behavior both in preparing for and during their visit to the parks, and will ideally extend to their home lives.

How Does the Zero-Landfill Project Benefit The Parks?

Recognizing the many competing priorities of the parks and limited resources relative to waste diversion planning, infrastructure development, and oversight, Subaru in partnership with NPCA and the NPF is supporting the parks through primary objectives:

1. Helping the parks to prioritize waste management as part of their sustainability strategy and in support of the Green Parks Plan, resulting in more efficient and cost effective waste management and diversion through source reduction, recycling, and composting.

2. Zero Landfill Technical Assistance Program at three iconic national parks (Denali, Grand Teton, and Yosemite) to include the assessment and the development of action plans engages multiple stakeholders around shared goals to help each park achieve zero-landfill targets.

3. Support operational and infrastructure improvements through Innovation Grants to help with resources to execute action plans and with dynamic employee, community, and visitor education, and engagement programs.

Who is Involved?

The primary project partners serve the following roles:

Subaru of America is lending their expertise, financial resources, and outreach and marketing efforts to help bring this initiative into the national conversation.

National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is playing the role of convener, facilitator, and project manager as well as providing stakeholder management and communications to ensure diverse stakeholders are engaged and results are accurately captured.

National Park Service is leading the project by leveraging and building on sustainability efforts and infrastructure, and fostering collaboration in the regions.

National Park Foundation works to protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate and engage youth, and connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. We do this in collaboration with the National Park Service, the park partner community, and with the generous support of donors, without whom our work would not be possible.

National Park Concessionaries as operators of accommodations, food and beverage, and retail operations within the national parks play a critical role in managing waste and creatively addressing diversion.

Community Stakeholders, along with the NPS and concessionaires, are the true engines in driving success for this project, including the activation, people power and infrastructure needed to make zero landfill a reality.

In addition to the primary partners, key stakeholders include local and county governments, gateway businesses, private and public sector trash and recycling haulers and processors, as well as educational non-profits.

Using scalable zero landfill best management practices and lessons learned from the three pilot parks, we hope to expand this work so national parks and their communities across the country can adopt and implement these waste solutions, making parks more sustainable for generations to come.