Renting is Recycling
Chances are that you are coming to Montana and Yellowstone National Park to enjoy the pristine qualities of this natural environment, Whether you are coming to watch wildlife and explore thermal features in the Park, to fly fish in our crystal clear rivers, or to just explore the vast amounts of public land in this region, you are here because it sill exists.
The natural beauty, and the wildness, of this region is under threat by rapidly increasing visitor numbers. Each visitor, whatever they are doing, has an environmental impact. At Explore Rentals we try to help visitors minimize this impact by reducing the amount of waste generated by each visitor. By renting certain items that most visitors traditionally purchase and dispose of, in particular coolers and bear spray, we are reducing the amount of toxic products (Styrene used in coolers) and non-biodegradable products from entering our landfills.
Tourist Trash, by the numbers
This by no means is a thorough research project, just an observation gleaned from ten years helping visitors to Yellowstone and Montana. I think it is important to note that the customers who use our business are most likely much more cognizant of trying to minimize their consumables comparable to the bulk of visitors to Yellowstone who are either driving into the Park or are using the cheap as possible rental car options at the airport.
On average, we rent per year Bear Spray to over 1,000 individuals and coolers to 750. Both of these products can get cleaned and reused over a multi-year usable life (3-seasons for Bear Spray, 4+ for a cooler).
This means that one canister of our rental Bear Spray has likely saved 516 pounds of Bear Spray from going into a landfill.
This means that one of our cooler rentals has likely saved 250 cubic feet of styrofoam from going into a landfill during a four-year life.
Please help keep Montana and Yellowstone pristine by renting, not buying your Bear Spray and coolers!
Four (4) of our rental coolers save a SHIPPING CONTAINER worth of styrofoam from going into our landfill!
The Big Picture with Yellowstone Trash
If you do the roughest, most conservative, estimates on Bear Spray and Cooler usage during a single summer in Yellowstone, this is what you come up with. Our figures are based only on those flying into Bozeman, Jackson, West Yellowstone, and Cody. This DOES NOT include those flying into Salt Lake City (which is where most tour groups and international visitors enter from) or driving into Yellowstone (which is by far the largest number).
Accordingly, 750,000 people fly in to visit Yellowstone.
- If only 1 out of 10, which is extremely conservative, buy Bear Spray and dispose of at the end of the trip (because it is illegal to fly with). This is 60,500 pounds of Bear Spray going into our landfills. This number is probably actually closer to 100,000 pounds per summer.
- If 1 out of 10, again, extremely conservative, purchase and dispose of a a sytrofoam cooler, this is 75,000 cubic feet of styrofoam going into the landfill. Per summer!
Help us reduce the amount of non-biodegradable trash from going into our landfills. Rent Bear Spray and rent your cooler, please!