One of the most iconic national parks in the United States is looking to cut down massive amounts of trash wasted every year — and it all has to do with what you eat.
This year, the National Park Service announced it would distribute a $400,000 grant to one park to establish a system to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic waste. All they had to do was bring the plan to life. In late June, the organization awarded the money to the Grand Canyon.
The national park will be working with two park concessioners, Delaware North and Xanterra Travel Collection, and reuse movement agency Upstream Solutions to launch the first reusable food service system.
This plan is expected to drastically reduce the amount of single-use food ware, like cutlery and plates, decreasing the number of items thrown away every year.
The National Park Service has estimated that visitors generate nearly 70 million tons of trash annually. A large bulk of this garbage is disposable food ware from concession stands, and vendors can hand out more than 7.2 million single-use items every year, according to Upstream.
The agency has said these disposable items constantly generate waste, hurting the parks and nearby communities. While many items end up littered in these national forests and protected lands, most wind up in overcrowded landfills. These landfills then produce heat-trapping pollutants, hurting our air quality and planet.
To reduce trash and protect nearby wildlife, pollinators, and landscapes, the Grand Canyon National Park and its partners will spend the next two and a half years creating a reusable food ware system in the park's South Rim area. Together, they will collect, wash, and redistribute reusable forks, knives, plates, and more to ensure these items can be reused for thousands of visitors — hopefully setting a model for other parks.
"This is a huge win for the reuse movement and a win-win-win for our national parks and its surrounding communities," said Upstream CEO Crystal Dreisbach.
"Our project team is not only going to show significant positive impact in Grand Canyon National Park from a waste, carbon, and jobs standpoint, but we're creating a microcosm of the circular economy that we want to see everywhere. It'll be a model reuse system in a cherished national treasure."
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