Recycling is probably the first thing that jumps to mind when you think about sustainability or how you can help the environment. It’s easy and it’s smart – by recycling you’re keeping trash out of landfills and saving energy. The Zoo knows all of this too – that’s why recycling is something we practice here every day!
What do we recycle at the Zoo? Everything we can, including paper, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, cell phones, beverage six pack rings, fluorescent bulbs, printer cartridges, wood, tires, rubber, paints and solvents, lead batteries, construction materials (like concrete, asphalt, gravel, and steel), and more! In 2009, we recycled (or composted) more than 350 tons of materials!! That’s huge amount of trash that didn’t end up in a landfill!
As part of our recycling program at the Zoo, we practice composting too. We get a lot of animal waste (poop) at the Zoo and we work with a local composting facility to compost all of that and the animal bedding we have, too. The compost is then used to fertilize gardens! In 2009, we composted 139 tons of these materials – that’s a lot of fertilizer!
Right now we’re exploring composting for all of the people food we see on grounds. That means looking for compostable plates, cups, and utensils and collecting food waste for composting. We’re also exploring using an anerobic digester for both our animal waste and our people waste – that means we wouldn’t have to ship it off to another facility and could keep all here on grounds!