Waste-free Picnics

St. Louis enjoys some of the nation's best-tasting water!

• Fill your bottle from the tap before you head out. Add ice cubes (the old-fashioned ones from water or the reusable ones) to keep your water cold.
• Refill your bottle at drinking fountains, hydration stations or other taps with potable water.

• Use a picnic basket or a reusable grocery bag.
• Pack your food in reusable containers along with reusable utensils.
• Use cloth napkins.
• Recycle any beverage containers in designated receptacles throughout the park.
• Consider composting any leftover food waste, such as fruit peels and cores.

Buy your picnic food and supplies locally

• Try some locally raised vegetables, meat, poultry, fruit, etc. 
• Check your local farmer's market for the finest local grub.
  • Find the farmer's market close to you
• Stock your cooler with a local brand of beer, wine or soda.

• Try herbal-based mosquito repellents available locally or online.
• Avoid perfume, scented soaps and body products during mosquito season.

• Look around your picnic area and pick up all personal items and trash.
• Recycle your cans and bottles.
• Bring enough bags to efficiently dispose of your trash.
• Do not dispose of ice in piles on the grass or planting beds. Spread it out or, better, let it melt first.
• Leave your picnic area as clean as it was when you arrived. 

• Walk on paved paths and picnic only in designated grassy areas, not in planting beds.
• Be mindful of the neighbors enjoying the area—both human and animal—especially as you arrive and leave.
• Dispose of your recycling, compost and trash in the correct receptacles when you locate them.