Sustainable Waste Management in the Bugaboos

The Friends of Bugaboo Park (FOBP) have wrapped up their recent waste management project in September 2023. With the hard work of four volunteers over four days, they’ve made notable progress in addressing environmental concerns in the Bugaboo Spires.

The journey began in the early 2000s when FOBP, partnering with the likes of the Alpine Club of Canada, BC Parks, and the CMH Bugaboo Lodge, installed alpine toilets at the Bugaboo– Snowpatch Col and the West Ridge of Pigeon. By the mid-2000s, the group added a ‘green throne’ alpine toilet at the East Creek Camp location, funded by Arc’teryx.

While these green thrones significantly reduced human waste affecting mountain water sources, they had a downside. They frequently filled with rainwater, snow melt, and urine. This led to more helicopter trips to empty them, increasing costs and carbon footprints. Also, the remote nature of the site made it sometimes impossible to remove the full barrels when the rest of the toilets in the park were being serviced, leading to sometimes over-filled barrels and no useable toilet.

To address this, FOBP decided to replace the East Creek toilet with a urine-diverting system. This new system, successfully used in many places worldwide, including several BC Parks, is expected to reduce helicopter trips. The open-air design has even been set up in places as high as 3,300m in Colorado. More details on this are available at ToiletTech.

The project, despite volunteer efforts, discounted materials, and flying support from CMH Bugaboo Lodge, had a budget of nearly $20,000. Through a still active Go Fund Me campaign, FOBP appealed to the community, especially those who have spent time in East Creek, for support.

Now, with the project’s successful completion, the FOBP would like to acknowledge the support received. This project was made possible, in part, with support from The Alpine Club of Canada Environmental Fund, Arc’teryx Alberta, and Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) Bugaboo Lodge.