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Grand Teton National Park Pilots Zero Waste Initiative

Wikipedia Commons

National Parks may seems like pristine wilderness, but the truth is park visitors produce a lot of trash. Grand Teton National Park is aiming to change that.

It’s one of three national parks piloting an initiative to reduce the amount of park waste that goes to landfills.

Jackie Skaggs is a spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park. She says while many visitors may think trash is just what gets left behind at a campsite, the full picture of the park’s waste stream is much bigger.

"It’s everything from a disposable one time use coffee cup, to the amount of food garbage that is generated that needs to be hauled out of the park. And of course because we don’t have a nearby landfill, everything that is generated in Grand Teton National Park gets shipped to a landfill in Idaho," says Skaggs.

To reduce that waste, Grand Teton will increase recycling and composting in the park. The park will have some help going forward from the National Parks Conservation Association and from auto maker Subaru, which was a pioneer in eliminating landfill waste at its company.

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