My family set aside the first half of July for vacation this summer. We toured Wyoming over two weeks (as we had Colorado several years ago) instead of one big destination. Traveling counterclockwise around the state, starting in the Bighorns west of Buffalo, it was enlightening to see the contrast in availability of recycling and how residents and fellow tourists regarded the environment.
Though I had been to most of the destinations along our route before, a visitor still interprets a community with a broad brush. Just because there were no receptacles downtown or at businesses along the route through town did not mean there was a means to recycle anybody who lives there could have told me about. Towns of any size took pride in their appearance and picked up litter.
One glaring exception was Snowy Range near Medicine Bow Peak. The full/locked refuse container at the packed trailhead was a sure sign to pack out trash yet hikers managed to mar the experience with bags of dog poop left along the trail. Public recycling access was the best at Yellowstone National Park and Jackson.
We spent a day at Yellowstone traveling the lower loop with Old Faithful and the surrounding geyser basin the main destination. From small to large, the park strategically placed bins everywhere at this top attraction. The latest data on the NPS website cited information from 2018 diversion rates.
“. . .
visitors and operations in Yellowstone National Park generated 4,117 tons of waste from paper to.