Robert Redford's Sundance Resort has long been an icon of beauty and serenity, thanks to its location in Provo Canyon. The resort is now giving something back to the environment.

The resort has recently adopted more environmentally friendly policies, said Chad Linebaugh, the general manager at Sundance.

" [Redford] has really challenged us here at the resort to step it up environmentally," Linebaugh said.

One such change was to make almost 3,000 of Sundance's 5,000 acres a preserve. This was done through a conservation easement, which forever protects the lands from development.

The Redford family, along with other property owners in the canyon, contributed land to the preserve.

Along with the preservation of land, the resort also has new green products and programs.

Sundance has many new products that are eco-friendly. One such product looks like an ordinary plastic cup, but is actually made out of cornstarch and will biodegrade in six months. A normal plastic cup takes, on average, 30 years to biodegrade, Linebaugh said.

The resort now uses to-go boxes made of cornstarch, forks made of potato starch and plates made of sugarcane pulp. All of these products will biodegrade in six months.

The restaurants at Sundance use organic produce and chlorine-free paper cups and coffee filters.

Sundance has recently switched to biodiesel fuel in its Snow Cats, which are used to plow the snow on the mountain each night during ski season, Linebaugh said.

According to an e-mail interview with Lucy Ridolphi, the marketing and public relations manager at Sundance, the resort uses hybrid vehicles on its property and provides free mass transit to the resort for pass holders.

Sundance also offers a carpool incentive - if a car has four people in it, the fourth person will get $10 off his or her ticket, Ridolphi said.

Sundance recycles cardboard, paper, plastic and cans on site, she said. Because of challenges in recycling glass in Utah, Sundance has its own glassworks kiln where glass bottles are recycled and made into decorative art and housewares used around the resort.

Sundance also invites its guests to contribute to the eco-friendly atmosphere by asking them to re-use linens in order to conserve water, energy and wastes, she said.

Sundance, along with many other Utah ski resorts, is a part of the Keep Utah Cool program, which hopes that by implementing these green policies, Utah will be able to have cool enough weather to keep its snow sports economy going forever.

Copyright Brigham Young University 6 Nov 2007