Reducing the Risk of Pollution in National Parks-A Strategic Plan to Eliminate Plastic Bottles
- Nov 11, 2017
- 6 min read
Executive Summary:
Vision: One of the biggest threats to wildlife is the degradation of habitat and ecosystems. Humans change the environment through pollution, and in our nation’s national parks one of the largest sources of pollution is trash from visitors. In order to protect our parks and natural resources we need to reduce the amount of trash
Mission: To reduce the amount of trash produced by visitors to the park through implementing policies and working with organizations and communities to reduce the use of non-reusable containers in National Parks.
Background:
America’s National Parks have been called “America’s best idea.” They are meant to preserve and protect our natural and cultural resources. The mission of the National Park System stands on four pillars, care for the environment, preserve history, revitalize communities, and invite stewardship. All four of these pillars are core values the the National Park Service (NPS), works to encompass everyday in their work.
In order to best meet their mission the NPS needs to prevent pollution within the National Parks. The problem is that each park is managed by humans, for the enjoyment of other humans. This produces pollution, a by product of human activities. There will always be some form of pollution in America’s National Parks, but we can work to limit the amount and type.
One of the main sources of pollution in our national parks is trash. A lot of items are either brought in and bought in the park. People don’t always properly dispose of the trash. Even when they do, the trash doesn’t always stay where it is supposed to. Animals, winds, and other natural events cause trash to be distributed throughout the park, leading to pollution.
One way to stop this pollution is to limit access to non-reusable items in the park, such as single-use bottled beverages. The NPS has implemented policies to restrict access to these items before. A piece of 2011 legislation, written under the Obama administration, gave parks the choice to eliminate bottled water sales. Many of the top national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Acadia NPs, chose to eliminate the sale of bottled water in their parks. This legislation has since been repealed by the Trump administration, and parks are now forced to allow the sale of bottled water within the park.
This repeal of the previous legislation wasn’t a shock. The bottled water industry had been lobbying hard over the last 6 years to have the legislation repealed. They cited concerns over limiting consumers choices, and criticized the fact that the ban didn’t limit the sale of unhealthy alternatives to water. However, recent findings from within the Department of the Interior (DOI), where the NPS is housed, showed that the ban was working to reduce pollution, and not just in the parks, but in the world. Despite this knowledge, the ban was lifted and visitors can once more buy bottled water inside the parks.
Legal Authority:
I am an environmental manger working for the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance under the Office of Policy, Management, and Budget within the Department of the Interior (DOI). My job is to oversee the implementation of environmental policy, and serve as a leader in environmental stewardship and sustainable development within the DOI.
Values:
The values of my office and department are reflected throughout this plan. Below is a list of these values:
Stewardship
Sustainability
Efficiency
Innovation
Transparency
Accountability
Adaptability
Safety
Human safety
Environmental safety
· Respect
Strategic Plan:
Goal: reduce the risk of plastic bottles to wildlife
Objective 1: reduce access to single-use plastic bottles in the parks
Strategies:
Program: No longer sell single-use plastic bottled beverages in the parks
Resource: Policy to stop single use plastic bottles (soda, energy drinks, and water) being sold by concessions; need PR team(s) to work with concessionaires about the policy
Political: need support of park management; need support of Dept. of Interior administration; need to work to get support of concessionaires
Co-production: work with the concessionaires; work with sustainable water bottle producers to make them available for concessionaires to sell; work with Corporate Accountability International (CAI) to find ways to stop selling bottled water without heavy road blocks from the bottled water industry
Communication: Need to communicate the positive benefits of this policy and how concessionaires will still be able to make money selling re-usable water bottles; communicate the benefits to the public about buying a slightly more expensive re-usable water bottles
Program: Reduce access to unhealthy alternatives to water
Resource: Policy to no longer sell sugary beverages in single-use containers; incentives to switch to using beverage fountains to provide alternatives to pre-packaged drinks; funding and manpower to remove vending machines; funding to subsidize installation of soda fountains
Political: support of the restaurants, lodges, and other concessionaires in the park; support of park management
Co-production: work with producers of soda fountains to get fountains at low costs to concessionaires; work with the concessionaires to get implement the program
Communication: communicate how much cheaper the solution will be to both concessionaires and the public when they don’t have to pay for non-renewable beverage containers with their drinks
Program: Increase access to potable water in the park
Resource: Funds to put in water-bottle refill stations, construction team; identify keep places to have potable water or bottle re-fill station (campsites, major trail-heads, etc.)
Political: support of upper management; support of finance team in the park and DOI to allocate the funds
Co-production: work with local environmental firms to design and build the refill stations
Communication: communicate that there are refill stations in the park available to use
Objective 2: reduce entry of plastic water bottles to the park
Strategies:
Program: Ban entry of single use plastic bottles to the park
Resource: Policy banning entry of single-use plastic bottles into park; Increased enforcement training; information for visitors warning them of the policy change
Political: need support of law enforcement and other parks staff as necessary to implement policy; need support of park management team and DOI; need support of my boss
Co-production: work with law enforcement and other parks staff as necessary to implement policy; work with park management team
Communication: need to communicate the new policy and the reasons behind it to the public so they are aware of the change and don’t buy plastic bottles to bring into the park
Program: Reduce the amount of pre-packaged bottled beverages sold immediately outside the park
Resource: policy to work with outside businesses
Political: need support of park management, need support of the local community
Co-production: work with outside businesses and the local commerce committees
Communication: inform local businesses how they can benefit from not using packaged drinks; inform the local communities of the ban into the park so they may inform their customers; Media campaign in the town to inform people of the ban
Objective 3: Increase public awareness
Strategy:
Program: implement a public awareness campaign
Resource: money for funding the campaign; a PR and media team to design and implement the campaign
Political: need support of the DOI and NPS; need support of local communities and park staff
Co-production: work with environmentally friendly media and PR teams; work with the local community and staff
Communication: need to use this strategy inside the park, outside the park, and all over the NPS info sites
Implementation and Assessment:
Implementation:
*This plan should be beta-tested at several parks before being spread to other parks so that the plan may be modified as needed. I would suggest using parks that previously had a water bottle ban.
1-6 mo.=Talk to park staff and management about the plan to reduce the risk of plastic bottles
Create awareness and garner support of management
1-6 mo= Identify places to increase access to potable water
6-18 mo.= Install water bottle refill stations and potable water pumps
6-18mo.= Implement a program to subsidize the purchase and installation of soda fountains by concessionaires
6-18 mo.= Train park staff on the logistics of implementing the policy changes
18-24 mo.= Implement the ban on the selling and entry of non-reusable beverage containers
1-24 mo.= Work with businesses in the communities outside of the park to reduce the use of non-reusable beverage containers
3rd year=Quality assurance assessment
Confirmation of plan
Assimilation and Assessment:
Assimilation
Based on previous policy, assimilating this plan into the culture of the National Park Service (NPS) should be easy. The 2011 legislation gave parks the choice of instating a ban on selling bottled water, and many parks chose to do so. This shows that the culture of the NPS already leans towards practices that exclude the use of non-reusable beverage containers.
Assessment
Quality control should be assessed internally by checking each park’s progress towards meeting objectives and implementing strategies. A good indicator of progress and success would be data on the amount of plastic bottles in trash containers.
Quality assurance should be assessed externally by an outside agency to make sure that the polices and programs are being implemented successfully and performing as expected. Periodic audits to ensure that the NPS is staying on target, and that there are not any unexpected results. This would also allow for the plan to be adjusted to better fit the targets of the individual parks.
· Leadership
· Community engagement
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