GUNNISON, Colo. — Colorado has a dirty secret. It is one that lurks in the shadows of 14ers. It swims beneath the surface of mountain streams. It hides underground – barely.
“Everybody was talking about the poop problem – major news outlets, advocacy groups. The problem became a focal point,” Jake Thomas, who lives in Gunnison, said.
So, Thomas and his brother-in-law Noah Schum came up with an idea. They made a poop kit that would be interesting, fun, and easy to use. No more half-used toilet paper rolls and garden shovels.
“We have kits for everything. We have first aid kits, cooking kits. Kits make it easy to be prepared,” Thomas said. “If pooping is something we do every day, why would you not have something that’s grab and go that you can throw in your pack?”
They called their business PACT Outdoors, and the idea is pretty simple. Thomas said they aim to make doing one’s business outside less confusing and more environmentally friendly.
“Regular toilet paper has so many additives in it,” Thomas said. “Those chemicals, when they come together, slow down the decomposition process, so it means it’s not a great thing to be burying in the ground.”
Instead, the kit has wipes that decompose quicker and fit in the handle of the special shovel. The kit also comes with tablets that are fungi. Once it's placed in the hole with the human waste, it helps speed up the decomposition process while battling bacteria.
“The wipes and tabs, we’re pretty proud of these. It’s sustainable, gets you a cleaner alternative to toilet paper,” Thomas said. “But using fungi to break down waste, that’s awesome.”
Through a grant from the Colorado Tourism Office that was matched by the Gunnison and Crested Butte Tourism and Prosperity Partnership, PACT kits are in local and state-run tourism offices and are also with other tourism and outdoor-related entities. The kits are given out for free. In two years, 8,000 PACT kits got in the hands of backcountry visitors.
“It’s important for protecting our tourism economy and all the jobs. It’s important for taking care of our environment, our water ways and our wildlife, and just making sure our public lands stay open,” Thomas said. “Everything you need for leave-no-trace best practices and to poop sustainably in the woods is right here.”