The Conservation Issue: The Process of Elimination

How Orlando Theme Parks Reduce Waste

May 1, 2025

Karyn Locke,

When you think of Orlando theme parks, it’s probable that the amount of garbage that gets thrown away by guests each day doesn’t enter your mind. Thanks to each park being a finely oiled waste removal machine, if you did have to think about it, it wouldn’t be as pleasant of an experience.

What exactly goes on behind the scenes to keep the theme parks clean and waste-free, you ask? Plenty. From waste reduction strategies to recycling, energy conservation and even menu planning, here’s the scoop on eliminating waste.

Waste Reduction Strategies & Management

If you’re into numbers and statistics, I’ve got some fun ones for you: each day Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT at Walt Disney World bring 160,000 people in and out of its turnstiles. Multiply that times 365 days a year and that’s well over 58 million fans of the parks eating, drinking and using the restrooms, all causing a massive amount of garbage and food waste.

Disney Harvest is the company responsible for putting perfectly good, excess or unused food from its kitchens all over the property into the hands of those who need it. Beginning in 1991, the food has been given to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and distributed to families. At the last count in 2022, 220,000 pounds of food are going to a good cause.

Universal Orlando Resort’s theme parks and lodging use a similar method to manage food waste. Inedible food is sent offsite, and biogas is produced using an anaerobic breakdown process. This generates energy that can be used for cooking or as a direct replacement for natural gas.

And at SeaWorld, all used cooking oil—from restaurants and huts—is recycled.

Energy Conservation

Just as we’ve made the change in our homes from traditional light bulbs to LED style, Universal Orlando Resort has done the same in its parks and hotels. If you’ve ever wondered about the air conditioning bill at a theme park, especially in the middle of summer, so has Universal. Using Central Plant Optimization, chilled water provides the necessary comfort we so desperately desire and saves an average of 20 percent each year from traditional chilling methods.

In 2016, Walt Disney World began making good use of its open areas by adding solar panel farms. If you keep your eye out when driving near EPCOT, a 5-megawatt, 48,000-panel solar array has a fun, Mickey-shaped outline. Three years later in 2019, a 270-acre space was created to provide 57,000 megawatts of energy simply by harnessing the Central Florida sun. Between the two areas, and with over 230 sunny days each year, Disney is working to have enough energy to run two of its theme parks by solar power alone!

SeaWorld ensures that all electrical wiring is properly disposed of—it’s gathered in a centralized location, then taken off-site once or twice a week.

Composting

Food that is unable to be eaten (food scraps from guests’ plates, fruit and vegetable peels, etc.) at Walt Disney World theme parks and resorts, has a brilliant strategy to keep it out of garbage dumps. An off-site commercial composting facility has handled some 30 million pounds of it and turned it into compost to fertilize its theme park plants. The next time you’re at Rafiki’s Planet Watch in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, check out the pollinator garden—it uses composted food to keep the garden in prime condition.

At the last count in 2016, SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay put more than 13,000 tons of food scraps and green clippings to use for compost and mulch. By creating healthy, new soil, it keeps what would have been thrown into landfills to give life to plants and trees.

SeaWorld distributes complimentary reusable dinnerware to its Pass Members. ©seaWorld Orlando

Recycling

As a gal who’s all about recycling at home, I notice when theme parks are making the extra effort to keep recyclables from the garbage bins. In the Central Florida theme parks, guests are encouraged to do their share by simply throwing plastic bottles into the garbage-adjacent recycle bins. How do the parks go above and beyond, though? Creativity and a promise to keep the earth cleaner have them putting on their creative thinking caps.

Since 2019, every SeaWorld theme park has nixed the use of polystyrene foam dinnerware. Instead, guests dine on 100% recyclable plates, bowls, and trays—that’s 14 million pieces of unrecyclable material every year. All single-use plastic straws and plastic coffee stirrers were removed from its parks in 2018.

SeaWorld also distributes complimentary reuseable dinnerware to Pass Members. All bath tissue used at its parks is 100% recycled, and the hand soap used across all facilities are Green Seal and ECOLOGO certified.

Every little bit counts, especially for Walt Disney World. Polystyrene cups, one-time-use plastic straws and plastic coffee stirrers have been nixed from its theme parks and resorts and replaced with earth-friendly options. Sure, paper straws (especially at Disney’s Animal Kingdom) may not last as long as plastic ones, but I’ll swap mine out and never complain if it’s keeping our planet and its animals cleaner and safer.

Magic Kingdom Park Main Street Usa Costumes 2

Going a step further, take a look at the green aprons Walt Disney World food and beverage cast members wear: each is made from 100% recycled materials. Considering there are more than 20,000 employees who keep us fed, that’s a big step in the right direction. The Main Street, U.S.A. F&B costumes add to WDW’s growing selection of uniquely sustainable costumes, including those created for Disney PhotoPass photographers, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, TRON Lightcycle/Run, Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Jungle Cruise, Kilimanjaro Safaris and more.

As for glass bottles and containers, the daily collection at Disney’s Fort Wilderness offers a pilot program where the pieces are finely crushed and turned into gravel road pothole filler.

What about water recycling? Universal Orlando Resort is taking safe-to-use water and making the most out of it by using it for monitored landscape irrigation. Using sensors, daily weather and ground moisture are taken into consideration and the amount of water is adjusted so it’s not wasted. I know I wrote about its use of cooled water to cool the air in its buildings earlier, but it may come as a surprise that it’s actually recycled water pumped into its cooling towers.

While we’re talking about water, let’s delve into Volcano Bay for a minute. Considering it keeps 3.6 million gallons in check each day, what does the park do to not cause excess use? By swapping out traditional sand filters that must be backwashed every day, the waterpark uses state-of-the-art regenerative media filters on every water slide and attraction.

Menu Planning

At Walt Disney World, the key to less food waste is knowing its theme park trends well ahead of time. Just as we check out crowd calendars online to know how busy each park will be, the company has its own predictive ways to determine how many meals will be ordered every day in each park, Disney Springs and in its water parks.

One of my favorite attractions at EPCOT is Living with the Land, a leisurely boat ride in The Land Pavilion (and it’s seriously underrated; if you have 15 minutes to spare, do yourself a favor and ride it, preferably in the front row.) It not only shows how people around the world are bettering themselves with the use of planet-friendly practices, but it showcases Disney’s innovative research to improve it as well. If you adore The Land’s two restaurants, Sunshine Seasons and The Garden Grill, each uses the produce and even fish we spy on the ride.

For those who want a more in-depth look, Living with the Land offers a
“Behind the Seeds” walking tour.

In a (Compostable) Nutshell

Central Florida theme parks take the guesswork out of our visits through creative and innovative waste elimination standards each has set. Not only do we not have to think about it each time we hop on a ride, use the restroom, dine and even stay at an on-property resort, but we can take parts of their massive helpful habits home with us. It’s easy to make use of an old garbage can by turning it into a recycling bin. By not throwing our food scraps into the garbage, we can create small compost piles and use them in our flower beds instead.

As Walt Disney himself said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”