Identifying strategies to reduce visitor-generated waste in national parks of the United States: the Zero Landfill Initiative

Increasing visitor use in U.S. national parks leads to myriad challenges, one of which is the large amount of waste generated. In this research, visitors to three parks were surveyed to identify potential leverage points for communicating with visitors that may help increase desirable behaviors in visitors as part of the Zero Landfill Initiative (ZLI). The findings suggest that visitors’ psychological constructs largely align with ZLI goals. However, moral norms and perceived difficulty significantly predicted behavioral intentions. From these results, a variety of management actions are suggested that may increase desirable behaviors and reduce waste in national parks.