Basically, when I (Emma) wrote that post, I was very much aware that the onus should not be on the individual visitor because the entity with the power to make real change is WDW itself. And they are doing a lot, don’t get me wrong, but they can always do better.
Conservation isn’t just the business of a few people. It’s a matter that concerns all of us.
Walt Disney
What is WDW doing to make itself more eco-friendly?
Disney does do a lot to make itself a greener place and has over the years, especially at Animal Kingdom and EPCOT theme parks educated guests about issues like conservation, renewable energy use, and animal welfare. (Around one-third of WDW’s property is a conservation area.) They also take time to drum this into employees during training and have donated millions of dollars to animal and conservation charities over the years.
They’ve had recycling bins all across property since at
least 2011 and their sanitation crew still hand sorts the rubbish bins to remove
recyclables. Their hotels are Green
Lodging-certified, which means that they are helping to conserve water and
energy, reducing waste, and educating the public.
They’re also doing a lot to reduce energy use by utilising energy-saving
fixtures, like florescent or LED bulbs. To be clear, Disney managed to save
enough energy to power their Animal Kingdom theme park for a year. And
they’ve created a Mickey-shaped solar panel field.
As mentioned above in our previous piece, they are committed to growing a lot of food on property, which they do using reclaimed water. However, Disney also helps to reduce food waste by distributing excess prepared food to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. Their buses even run on a renewable fuel made from non-consumable food waste.
Recently, WDW has pledged to completely eliminate all single-use plastics by the end of 2019, which means that for the most part, we were served with cardboard/paper plates and drinks came without lids or straws. (On the one occasion that we got a plastic bowl for our salad, I assume it was because that location hadn’t yet run out of the plastic bowls and they were just using up what they had.)
What could WDW do better?
In my ideal world, Disney would serve every counter-service meal with reusable cutlery and crockery, but I definitely understand why that wouldn’t work. People break things and metal knives would be unsafe and how would washing up on such a major scale be done? Also, I fully accept that it would be a logistical and health and safety nightmare to place meals and (most) snacks in reusable containers that people had brought in.
The best option would, I feel, be for WDW to use compostable food containers/cutlery and put a compost bin at all rubbish bin locations. Not only would this be a bonus for the environment, but Disney could use the soil produced for its on-site food production. Yes, it would take time for people to get used to, but so did the recycling bins and those were a great idea.
They could also encourage people to bring their own reusable
cutlery/bottles by offering a discount. Disney could even sell branded ones at
food locations as they do popcorn buckets and soda mugs. Also, Starbucks is
happy to fill my mug in the UK, so why can’t the Starbucks in Disney do that?
Anyway, so that’s my thoughts on the subject, but now I want
to hear from you. Are there any more green initiatives that you know Disney is
taking? What do you think Disney could do better? Let me know in the comments
below.
You may not know this dear reader, but Shades of Green shares its name (quite by accident) with a Walt Disney World golf resort. In fact, every time I (Emma) Google our blog that is what comes up. Why am I telling you that? Because WDW is the subject of today’s blog.
There’s no getting around it, taking a holiday in a place that is several thousand miles away and is a major tourist trap is hardly the greenest thing that I could do, but what can I say? I love Disney – I even worked there for a time – and I’m not going to stop going. So, last month I went.
However, I did want to make my trip as green as possible and this is what I did to make that happen.
Getting there
The only practical way to get to the USA is via plane, so I offset my flight’s carbon footprint. As it turns out, flying direct and in the economy cabin is better for the world than having a change or flying in premium/business/first class, which is good because I flew there direct and economy class. (Although, I did have a change on the flight back, which I didn’t think about until I’d booked it.)
Packing List
I was never going to be able to take just hand luggage with me to the USA for three weeks, so I took a suitcase. Although I’ll admit it could have been a bit lighter because I over packed on cardigans for the evenings – two would have been enough – and I could have washed some clothes (underwear, socks) in the shower. (I am considering just taking a carry on next time because of this.) However, these are the things that I packed to make my trip greener:
Reusable
water bottle: WDW is filled with water fountains, meaning that you never
have to buy a plastic water bottle or ask for a cup of ice water. Plus the
Chillys bottle (recommended by Tamara) kept my water cold even in the Florida
sun.
Fabric
tote bag: While I didn’t buy a lot on my trip (two t-shirts and a postcard,
I think), I wanted to make sure I didn’t have to take a plastic bag at the
store. (No one batted an eye in WDW, but outside of Disney, cashiers were
really shocked when I kept refusing a bag for things like food and one even
tried to force me to take one because he’s already put my crisps in the bag.)
Period
pants/ reusable menstrual pads: While this didn’t entirely cut my need for
tampons – I couldn’t wear these at water parks and I didn’t have the luxury of
changing my pants/pads
during the day, as I do at home – it really helped me cut down on the
disposable pads that I would have worn in the parks to avoid an accident while
in a two-hour line.
Lunch
box: I took this to carry in snacks to avoid buying something with
packaging in the parks, but also to take back food that would be wasted at the
end of a meal.
Bamboo
straw: Given that I was generally drinking water, I didn’t have much of a
chance to use this. However, it did save me from taking a straw when we sat
down at a table service restaurant and I ordered a soda.
Spork with
knife edge: I used this so that I wouldn’t have to take disposable cutlery.
Then, I washed it every night at our hotel. (My parents didn’t bring one, but
they did reuse the cutlery that they got on our first day for the rest of our
trip.)
Cloth napkin:
I took a few of these so that I wouldn’t have to use paper napkins. Each one
lasted about three days, before being put in the washing pile.
Transport
While in Orlando, I travelled on the hotel shuttle and WDW
transportation (buses, monorails, boats) with dozens of other people, so it was
just like using public transportation back here.
We took a taxi to and from the airport, but I did try to get
a shuttle. It was just too full by the time we got there and couldn’t
accommodate my mum’s wheelchair and the next one wasn’t for like an hour. Not
great when you’ve been up for 16 hours already.
Hotel
I will admit that this was probably my greatest green failure. (It kind of wasn’t even my fault, but it was really annoying.) I didn’t choose the hotel for its eco standards, but rather price and proximity to WDW, but I figured all hotels must have the same basic guidelines of not changing your bed linen every night, having recycle bins, and not changing towels that were hung up on the rack.
When we got there I realised there were no recycling bins
but figured that it was okay because we could recycle stuff like the milk
bottles in WDW. (We just had cereal in our room each morning, which was more
eco than eating in the park or at the buffet.) However, their coffee cups were
the disposable kind, which is annoying because I was expecting a china cup.
Still, I left a note for the housekeeper (with a tip!)
asking them to leave the cups, as we would rinse and reuse, and to not empty
the bins unless they were full. If all, I’ve put in the bin is the flight tag
from my suitcase, it doesn’t need changing. When we got back, the housekeeper
had taken the note (and the tip!), but completely ignored my request by
replacing the cups and emptying the bins. They also, despite the eco-guidelines
that were in the hotel welcome folder, changed towels that I’d hung on the
rack. I had a little bit of a freakout that my mum found funny.
We worked around it by hiding the cups in the microwave and
putting all our rubbish in one bin, as opposed to using the kitchen and
bathroom one, but I couldn’t do anything about the towels. It still annoys me.
Food
As we all know, one of the best ways to lower your eco-impact is through being careful with what you eat. Eating locally, choosing the option with low or no packaging, and eating fewer animal products all help to lower our carbon footprint.
Now, I ate vegan
about half the time and vegetarian
for the rest of the time. There are a lot more options than you might initially
suspect, especially if you seek out the sites I’ve linked for help.
As for packaging
free, that’s difficult in Disney. Cast members aren’t allowed to take things
like bottles or boxes from guests so they can’t place your vegan burger into
your lunch box or fill up your bottle with soda. There are ways to limit your
packaging though, including:
taking your own non-packaged snacks in
taking reusable cutlery, straws, bottles,
napkins, and boxes (for leftovers)
opting for your ice cream in a cone rather than
a cup
dining at table service restaurants (be warned,
this does take longer and will eat into your park day, which is why we only did
it once)
You might think it’s hard to eat local in WDW, but it’s
easier than you think. See WDW grows a lot of its produce on property and the
Living with the Land ride at Epcot shows you how they’re always looking for new
ways to grow food using less water, less soil, and utilising permaculture.
Shopping
As mentioned above, I didn’t really buy anything when I was
in WDW. A couple of tops for me, but nothing for anyone else. Not even my
nephews and niece. (Sorry kids!) Also,
on a related note, I will sound like the sourest person in the world, but I’ve
never understood why adults buy other adults gifts from their holiday.
By limiting what I bought, I reduced the amount of packaging to just a couple of price tags and limited the amount (in a very small way) that Disney would have to replenish with brand new items largely made from virgin materials.
Well, that’s it from me on how to eco-hack your WDW holiday, but there will be a follow-up piece on how Disney is working to reduce its eco-impact. Now, I’d like to hear about any tips you have for making your WDW vacation greener. Let me know in the comments.