As I vacation on my trips to Walt Disney World, I notice how much paper is given to me. First, upon check in at any of the Walt Disney Resorts, I am given a HUGE packet of various brochures detailing the park hours, park maps, resort map, resort activities and on and on. Going to the resorts so often, I usually ask that they just keep them for the next guest as I really will not be browsing all of the documents. I always feel a bit ungrateful when I ask that they just keep their packet they were presenting me, but, at home, I make attempts to recycle and do not want to be wasteful while on vacation.
So, on my last vacation I began to review the various ways that Disney tries to reduce waste both in the parks and at the resorts. Here is what I found:
1. Disney requests that all guests use their towels again. The guests basically agree by simply rehanging their towels. This simple act reduces the amount of water, detergent, and man hours used to provide clean towels to guests on a daily basis.
2. Disney includes a “green” trash can in all resort rooms. I noticed on this trip that the cans no longer have the arrow recycle symbol on them, and are now just green. These cans are for items that are recyclable.
3. Disney has signs on the doors to the exterior requesting that guests turn off their lights to reduce the amount of electricity used.
4. Included all over the parks and resorts are recycle bins for bottles, etc.
In researching this idea further, I found that Disney recycles 18,000 tons of materials each year. They have also set up a program entitled Disney Harvest whereby they donate approximately 50,000 POUNDS of prepared yet unserved edible food each MONTH! The company also recycles approximately 5 million plastic guest key cards per year. (I have never seen where they would take those in for recycling. Have you?) And finally, they have changed their lights to compact fluorescent bulbs as well as switching to low flow shower heads and toilets.
I hope you will consider recycling whether on vacation or at home!
Contributed by: Natalie H. (NDM #268). Natalie is the Disney Driven Life’s resident resort expert and creator of Meet the Magic!
Natalie grew up in Nashville, TN. Married with one son, she lives on a farm. As if this weren’t enough to keep her on her toes, Natalie also works around the clock due to being self-employed .
Natalie often travels to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, giving her a vast knowledge of the Disney Resorts which she shares in her posts on The Disney Driven Life. She loves the research on the resorts and appreciates input for these articles as well.
In recent trips, Natalie has begun making a habit of meeting people while in the parks. This habit inspired her personal website, Meet the Magic, http://meetthemagic.com. This site helps her connect to others as well as hold space for Disney fans to post information about their Disney related sites. Her goal with this venture is to help people to “Meet the Magic” of their choice.
I love to hear about all the recycling Disney is doing! Ive always be in to recycling and try my best to do it but at times its tough. Glad to know when im at Disney I can recycle!
Thanks for that. I knew that they had talked about doing that but didn’t know if that idea had been scrubbed… (my attempt at humor). Thanks again!