Subaru of America, Inc. and the National Parks Conservation Association have been awarded the 2020 Silver Halo Award in the ‘Best Sustainability Initiative’ category by Engage for Good. The automaker and park advocacy group were recognized for the Don’t Feed the Landfills initiative, an environmentally focused campaign aimed at preserving national parks.

Since 2015, Subaru of America has worked with NPCA and the National Park Foundation toward a shared goal of reducing landfill waste in America’s national parks. Through extensive research over the course of five years, the automaker and NPCA tested landfill best practices, piloting programs in three iconic national parks – Yosemite, Grand Teton, and Denali.

As part of this collaborative effort, Subaru and NPCA, in coordination with the National Park Service staff and many partners, work to find innovative solutions to lessen the environmental footprint in and around national parks. Since the launch of the initiative, the pilot parks have made significant strides by nearly doubling their recycling and composting capabilities, keeping more than 16 million pounds of waste out of landfills, which is equivalent to the weight of 40,000 grizzly bears.

“Our national parks represent the very best of the American great outdoors, and we feel a responsibility to keep them clean and free of waste for future generations to enjoy,” said Alan Bethke, Subaru of America's senior vice president of marketing. “We are honored that our ongoing work with NPCA and NPF has been recognized by Engage for Good with this Halo Award, and hope our efforts continue to inspire others to take care of the world around us.”

The successes and long-term impact of the initiative can be attributed to the collaborative community-based tailored approach. By first identifying the biggest waste items found in the pilot parks, which includes food waste, cardboard, single-use plastic bottles, plastic wrap and packaging, steel and aluminum cans, glass bottles and jars, and single use portable propane canisters, each park set incremental goals in order to reduce the most.

“We set out to tackle an enormous challenge for all national parks – keeping millions of pounds of waste they produce out of the landfills,” said Theresa Pierno, NPCA's president and CEO. “With leadership from Subaru after successfully implementing zero landfill practices into their own operations, we joined forces and together have identified collaborative, innovative, and efficient ways to remove waste, and it’s making a big difference. Using the scalable zero landfill best management practices and lessons we’ve learned from the three pilot parks, we hope to expand this work so national parks across the country can adopt and implement these waste solutions, making parks more sustainable for generations to come.”

The Halo Awards, presented by Engage for Good, are North America’s highest honor for corporate social initiatives and cause marketing. This marks the 18th year that Engage for Good will honor businesses and nonprofits with Halo Awards for doing well by doing good.