Using visitor observations to predict proper waste disposal: A case study from three US national parks

Abstract

As protected land systems grow and develop in countries across the world, sustainability concerns arise alongside this growth. Specifically, increasing visitation to the US National Park System has resulted in new managerial concerns, one being the large amounts of waste produced by these visitors and how this waste is being disposed of. In response to this growing issue, a partnership between industry, non-profits, and the National Park Service, called the Zero Landfill Initiative (ZLI), is working to reduce waste sent to landfills from US national park sites by having visitors sort their waste and recyclable material for proper disposal. To evaluate the efficacy of this outreach campaign and further develop knowledge on factors influencing waste sorting behavior, this study aimed to use a novel observational approach to learn about visitor waste disposal in three US national parks. Results showed that individuals who meaningfully engaged with signage, did not appear confused, and who had children in their group were more likely to dispose of waste properly. The future research and managerial implications of these findings are then discussed to encourage proper waste disposal and sorting in these US national parks as well as in more generalized contexts.