From Auto Assembly Plants to National Parks, Zero-Landfill Practices Help to Create a More Sustainable Future

National parks are an integral part of our country’s landscape. They preserve valuable habitats and provide sanctuary for endangered and threatened species. They also offer endless recreational and educational opportunities for hundreds of millions of visitors each year. On the flip side, the abundance of people in the parks means a lot of waste bound for landfills, with visitors creating almost 70 million pounds of trash in 2022. But the Zero Landfill Initiative, a nearly 10-year collaboration between Subaru of America, the National Park Service, the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Park Foundation and other park stakeholders, proves that doesn’t need to be the case. 

“Our customers absolutely love the national parks,” Denise Coogan, environmental partnership manager for Subaru of America, told TriplePundit. “They put their faith in our product, and it’s such an honor when somebody does that, so we thank them by helping to conserve these places they love and the places they like to take their Subaru.”

Lessons from zero-landfill auto plants inform success at national parks

The Zero Landfill Initiative, also known as Don’t Feed the Landfills, aims first to reduce the amount of waste entering parks — followed by reusing, recycling and composting what is brought in. The initiative is built on the lessons learned by Subaru’s own zero-landfill program, which is implemented in all of the automaker’s manufacturing plants globally. Instead of utilizing a top-down approach where executives who aren’t as unfamiliar with the day-to-day processes dictate sustainability measures, Subaru went straight to employees for ideas on eliminating waste.

For example, employee input played an integral role in the sustainability transition at Subaru of Indiana Automotive, a 5.5 million square foot auto assembly plant where thousands of cars are produced each year. “We got all of the 4,700 associates who worked there at the time together to say, 'This is where we want to go, and how can we get there?’” Coogan said. The plant achieved zero-landfill status 20 years ago, making it the first auto manufacturing facility in the U.S. to do so.

Coogan credited the thousands of ideas supplied by production employees for the achievement, calling them the stars of the program. The plant once generated 459 pounds of waste for each vehicle that left the line. By the time the last load was sent to a landfill on May 4, 2004, plant employees reduced the total to 210 pounds — all of which is recycled and reused or, in the case of restroom waste that can’t be recycled, is converted into energy. 

“It was an amazing thing to witness, to see everyone taking so much pride in their ideas,” she said. “I had worked in production for many years when I was much younger. And I know how humbling it can be to go in on Jan. 1, knowing what you're going to be doing on Dec. 31, and nothing's going to change. We were able to go to our associates at [Subaru of Indiana Automotive] and say, 'What are your ideas? Can you give us what you think would work the best?’ and then come together and work together to bring their ideas to life. That’s what we did at the national parks, too.” 

A movement to change environmental behavior in U.S. national parks

The Don’t Feed the Landfills Initiative began nearly a decade ago with three pilot parks: Denali, Grand Teton and Yosemite. Using lessons learned at the pilot parks, Subaru and the National Parks Conservation Association set out to develop a roadmap for more national parks to implement successful sustainable practices. The initiative has since expanded to Big Bend, Zion and a handful of other national parks across the United States, Coogan said.

“The successes and long-term impact of the waste reduction initiative can be attributed to the collaborative community-based approach,” said Karen Hevel-Mingo, director of sustainability for the National Parks Conservation Association. “With Subaru’s shared expertise, and through the challenging work that began at Denali, Yosemite and Grand Teton, we learned quickly that the communities surrounding our parks were as important as the parks themselves. Our many partners were so important in not only helping us reduce waste, but in educating millions of park visitors about how they can help and do their part.”

In spearheading the initiative, Subaru sought to take the same all-inclusive approach it used in its plants and expanded it to national parks and their gateway communities. “These parks are behemoths in these areas. But usually, the population around the parks is not very big — meaning everyone relies on that park, so everyone has a piece of the puzzle,” Coogan explained. “Getting everyone in the same room and saying, ‘Here's where we want to go, what do you need?,’ it opens up a kind of synergistic communication and team building. What gets recycled, how it gets recycled, where it gets put, how it gets picked up — all of that stuff is just details that can be worked out relatively easily. But getting everyone to buy in and creating a movement where you change environmental behavior? That's a little harder.”

A lot of that work boils down to educating visitors with messaging in the park and online that encourages them to reduce what they use and bring into the parks. Tourists are encouraged to bring refillable water bottles, which can be filled at stations in the parks, along with reusable coffee mugs. They’re directed to downloadable brochures instead of paper ones and asked to bring their own totes for any souvenirs they might purchase. And with 40 percent of park waste comprised of food, visitors can be mindful of food waste and utilizing reusable containers that will be packed out. 

“We’re really trying to get that message out to people. Don't just reduce waste, think about what you're doing. Think about the impact on the national park. You might just be one family, but when there are 337 million people that go to the national parks every year and everyone uses a plastic water bottle or everyone brings plastic bags and throws them in the trash, it adds up,” Coogan said. “But once you remind them, 99.999 percent of the people really want to do the right thing.”

Sharing the Love is business as usual for Subaru

Subaru’s support of the National Park Service and its role in spearheading the Zero Landfill/Don’t Feed the Landfills Initiative is another example of how it Shares the Love by giving back. Not only is the automaker the  largest corporate donor to the National Park Foundation, thanks in part to its annual Subaru Share the Love Event charity campaign, but it’s also helping the parks reach their sustainability goals through innovation grants. These grants allow individual parks to improve infrastructure by purchasing equipment like balers and forklifts that make recycling more feasible, as well as hiring staff to handle marketing, education, and community outreach.

Between the Share the Love Event and Subaru Loves the Earth month that we do every April, we’re getting the word out to our retailers too so that they can be more than a car dealer,” Coogan said. “We really do want to be more than a car company. And this is just one way we show it.”

A scalable approach

Twenty-two million pounds of visitor waste from national parks have been diverted away from landfills through source reduction, composting, and recycling since the initiative’s inception in 2015, Coogan said. Overall, participating parks are seeing a steady decrease in the amount of waste generated per visitor — a clear sign they’re meeting their objectives, she said. 

“The lesson that transcends both the national parks and Subaru plants has been involving everyone in the project and that sense of community,” Coogan added. “I honestly believe that people want to be part of something bigger than themselves. And if you allow them the honor and you give them the tools they need to do it, they will rise to the occasion.”

It’s an approach that could be applied to sustainability in just about any industry. And it saves money too — both by using fewer materials and generating less waste in need of disposal. Subaru has saved $1.5 million at its Indiana automotive plant alone, Coogan said. And she’s confident that by giving associates and community stakeholders the voice they need to make real change, this method of waste reduction can be scaled anywhere, to any size. 

“The work we’ve accomplished together will live on in our parks, and all who visit them will have cleaner, healthier experiences because of it,” added NPCA’s Karen Hevel-Mingo.