Did you know that today is America Recycles Day?!? We thought that makes it a perfect day to share with you what Husky Homestead is doing not only to recycle, but to reduce waste, and lessen our impact on the environment.
Over the past year we have joined forces with the Denali Zero-Landfill Project. This initiative was created to find better ways to manage the 100 million pounds of trash produced when nearly 331 million people visit America’s national parks each year. As a neighbor to Denali National Park, as well as a community partner of the project, we are working to spread the word to our visitors so that they can plan ahead to reduce waste when they visit us here in Denali. Did you know that a plastic bottle that is recycled here at Husky Homestead travels over 200 miles to a recycling center, and is then shipped 2,000 miles or more to processing facilities outside of Alaska?!? That’s a long journey! If you’re planning a visit to see us, or anyone else here in the Denali Park area, check out these travel tips from our friends at Denali Education Center so that you can know before you go. Check out this video on the project – it even features a couple of our very own!
Husky Homestead is proud to have been certified by Adventure Green Alaska earlier this year. AGA is a voluntary certification program for tourism businesses operating in Alaska that meet standards of economic, environmental and social sustainability. It has also been the only sustainable certification program in Alaska since 2009. AGA encourages tourism businesses to evaluate their operations and determine whether they use – or could be using – best sustainable management practices. Some of the things that we do to meet these standards here at Husky Homestead include:
- Developed a business-wide recycling program, with new bins for our office, staff and guests. We now recycle: Plastics #1, #2 and #5, aluminum, glass, tin, mixed paper, and corrugated cardboard.
- Created a composting mission in order to compost our dog poop. Yes – you read that right!
- Use of non-toxic cleaning products when possible, as well as compostable and/or biodegradable items whenever possible. We also work to limit our use of single-use items, including paper products.
- Conserve water by collecting and storing rain water to use for our dogs.
- We are investing in solar panels as an alternative energy source for our main office and some staff living quarters. These will be placed in service in 2019.
How else can you help? Check out more information on traveling sustainably – not only here in Alaska, but everywhere! If you picked up a reusable mug, water bottle, silipint or reusable bag while visiting us – thank you! 5% of the proceeds from the sale of those items goes back to supporting local recycling efforts here in the Denali area! If you’re interested in picking up some nice swag for your next trip, or have someone that you know someone that needs a new coffee mug…. check out our selection on our store page.