DENVER—The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Xanterra South Rim, L.L.C. a Green Purchasing Gold Achievement Award for its purchasing practices at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Part of the EPA’s “WasteWise” program, the award recognized the concessioner’s waste reduction program, which includes purchasing numerous items with recycled content as well as increasing the recycled content of many products.
Xanterra is one of only 11 organizations to receive a Gold Achievement Award this year and the only national park concessioner ever to receive the award.
In 2005, Xanterra switched to chlorine-free, 100 percent post-consumer recycled-content copy paper. The company also sells blankets, T-shirts and sweatshirts that contain between 60 to 100 percent recycled-content materials. In addition, Xanterra recycles many of the items it uses in its operations, which helps create a market for these materials. The company also buys back the equivalent of 11 percent of the paper and 26 percent of the plastic it recycles. Last year, the company avoided $55,000 in disposal costs through its recycling and waste prevention program.
“Purchasing recycled-content items for sale in our gift shops is our ‘next-generation’ answer to mere recycling,” says Chris Lane, senior director of environmental affairs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. “While we long ago made a commitment to recycling solid waste throughout our operations, we have found our guests are often just as committed as we are to reducing our impact on the planet, and purchasing recycled-content items like shirts and blankets gives them a practical way to support that goal.”
WasteWise is a voluntary partnership launched by the EPA in 1994. The program provides guidance and recognition to nearly 1,900 participating organizations that are working to find practical methods to reduce municipal solid waste and improve financial performance.
This is the second major award Xanterra received from the EPA recently. Earlier this year, the company received the EPA’s “2006 Performance Track Corporate Leader” award. Xanterra is only the fourth company to receive that designation since its creation in 2004. The EPA’s Performance Track program recognizes top environmental performers that voluntarily go beyond compliance with environmental regulations and publicly commit to specific environmental improvement over a three-year period.
