This season Cardrona and Treble Cone are saying goodbye to landfill bins and single-use, non-recyclable packaging.

From winter 2021 onwards, there will be no landfill bins for public use at either ski area, and other significant environmental changes are being made, Cardrona-Treble Cone general manager Bridget Legnavsky said.

“We’ve made a lot of small changes over the years, like removing single use coffee cups and PET plastic bottles from our food and beverage outlets, and we’ve been proud to be an industry leader in this space,” she said.

“But now it is time to make big changes, and we need everyone to come on this journey with us.”

The ski resorts identified two issues requiring significant change from a sustainability perspective - waste and transport - and they are making moves to reduce their footprint with both.

Neither mountain will sell any items in their food and beverage outlets that have packaging that needs to go to landfill; and rubbish bins will be replaced by recycling and compost stations, with signage explaining the changes and staff members on hand to help visitors sort through their waste.

Cardrona-Treble Cone general manager Bridget Legnavsky said waste and transport had been identified as areas requiring significant change. PHOTO: Supplied

“If you need to bring single use packaging, you will need to take that off the mountain with you – but that doesn’t really help,” Bridget said. “We’re asking everyone to think really deeply about what they buy in the first place, the packaging it comes in, and the packaging you choose to bring up our mountains.”

Suppliers have been willing to accommodate the changes, Bridget said.

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“As an example, Cookie Time has developed a compostable cookie bag so they can continue to be sold on our mountains this winter.”

To address transport emissions, both Cardrona and Treble Cone have made their access road shuttles from the bottom of each mountain free of charge for the winter season.

Both ski fields had a good dusting of snow on Tuesday morning following Monday’s storm, with Cardrona getting 8cm and Treble Cone 5cm. PHOTO: Jen Houltham

The resorts are also encouraging carpooling by reserving the parking spaces closest to each mountain’s base facilities for vehicles with three occupants or more until the car parks are filled. Designated hitch-hiking spots will be set up at both mountains, and carpooling app usage encouraged.

Bridget said the changes have been sparked by guest and staff feedback over the past couple of years.

“We love that our guests keep challenging us to do and be better, and we want to keep encouraging that feedback. So to all our people we say – please keep asking us questions, and keep challenging us to improve on this sustainability journey.”

Cardrona Alpine Resort opens for the winter season on June 12, with Treble Cone following on June 25. 

PHOTOS: Supplied