News release: “Subaru, recognized for having the first automotive assembly plant in America designated as zero landfill, today announced it will share its knowledge of zero landfill practices with the National Park Service to reduce landfill waste from the parks. In partnership with National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a non-profit national park advocacy group, the team will test zero landfill practices in three iconic national parks –Yosemite, Grand Teton and Denali – working toward a goal of significantly reducing waste going into landfills from all national parks. This sustainability initiative builds upon Subaru of America’s multi-year partnership with the National Park Foundation (NPF) celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service and the Find Your Park movement. In 2013, the National Park Service managed more than 100 million pounds of waste nationally. Much of this waste was generated in the parks by its 273.6 million visitors. That amount of trash would normally require 20 million household trash bags which if laid end-to-end would stretch from New York to Los Angeles and back again twice. This total accounts for only the waste managed by the National Park Service and does not account for the waste managed by park concessioners, which is considerably higher. Concessioners provide park visitors with lodging, transportation, food services, shops, and other services. Also in 2013, more than seven million people visited the pilot parks – Yosemite, Grand Teton and Denali – which collectively generated 16.6 million pounds of visitor waste. Of that amount, 6.9 million pounds was diverted from landfill via source reduction, reuse, recycling or composting, and 9.7 million pounds was sent to landfill. By learning from experts at Subaru, the parks and concessioners hope to further reduce waste to landfills, as well as better educate visitors to lessen their environmental footprint within the parks.  To start this major effort, National Park Service, National Parks Conservation Association, National Park Foundation, and concessioner representatives from each pilot park visited Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA). They observed Subaru’s environmental stewardship in action, discussed best practices and identified opportunities and challenges at each park. Following that visit, Subaru sustainability experts visited each pilot park to assess their current practices and discuss initiatives needed to reach the eventual goal of zero landfill.  NPCA, who is helping Subaru implement the pilot project, is conducting a baseline waste audit, as well as reviewing recycling, organic material composting, hazardous waste management, and visitor waste behaviors. Together, Subaru and NPCA will document the effort and create scalable zero landfill implementation plans that other national parks can adopt…”