New Colorado-made kits help hikers, others bury their waste, minimize impacts

By Steve Graham

Some Colorado organizations are helping solve a crappy problem in the Colorado outdoors: human waste near popular hiking trails.

The Gunnison Crested Butte tourism partnership, the Colorado Tourism Office and a company called PACT Outdoors are running the “Doo” Colorado Right campaign, which distributes compact, lightweight kits that help outdoor enthusiasts reduce the environmental impact when they poop in the wilderness.

The PACT Lite Bathroom kit includes an ergonomic shovel, biodegradable plant-based wipes and mycelium tablets that break down the poop. And the wipes and tabs even fit in the shovel handle.

“We noticed poop was becoming a bigger and bigger problem as more and more people were accessing the outdoors,” said PACT co-founder Jake Thomas.

He said the solution of increasing regulations and usage limits is not ideal, and isn’t actually solving the growing problem of human waste, which he attributes to lack of planning and knowledge.

“People don’t poop on the surface and leave it because they’re bad people,” Thomas said. “It’s because they’re naive and unprepared. We need to give people better tools.”

Thomas said his company was inspired by the use of mycelium in soil decontamination for oil field clean-up, wildfire remediation, and agriculture and livestock run-off. Mycelium is derived from mushrooms and other fungi, and can help reduce E coli and other harmful bacteria.

“What if we empowered the individual with fungi to support faster decomposition?” he asked. “Could we create a new standard that again continues to allow for more access by breaking poop down and killing harmful bacteria faster.”

The company is based in the Gunnison Valley, so PACT started the distribution effort there.

“We received a ton of support from our community and then have really focused on making a dent on the poop problem in Colorado,” Thomas said.

The Gunnison Crested Butte Tourism and Prosperity Partnership learned about PACT through the company’s work with regional economic development programs and the Moosejaw Outdoor Industry Accelerator.

“We saw this program as an opportunity to protect the public lands that we promote and are dependent on for our tourism economy,” said Gunnison-Crested Butte marketing director Andrew Sandstrom. “As we invite more visitors to the area, there are more impacts on our public land. These kits serve as a great way to not just educate visitors but also equip them with the tools they need to use the bathroom in the outdoors.”

He said he is also excited to support private startups in Colorado.

“In addition, PACT is a local business that exports a product around the nation,” Sandstrom said. “Companies like PACT are being targeted by our region as ways to diversify our economy beyond tourism.”

The program is part of the state’s broader Do Colorado Right campaign that encourages visitors and locals to behave responsibly in the outdoors. The state and Sandstrom’s group purchased $60,000 worth of kits.

These free PACT kits are being distributed at welcome centers and offices around Colorado, but many sites have already run out. Click here for locations. The kits, refill wipes and more are available directly from the PACT website.