Waste Reduction

reusable plastic plates, cups, cutlery, peacock feather and bookmarks — Reusable birthday party materials

4 Compost buckets in front of zoo sign — Buckets of compost

Plastic bottles stuffed with nonrecyclable plastic on table — Ecobricks

Overview

In recent years, staff assessed our collective waste and devised alternatives to single use items. Here are some of the ways we reduced or eliminated plastic and food waste throughout the Zoo:

Eliminated plastic baggies in our Commissary and other areas and replaced them with reusable containers.
Reduce waste at workshops and meetings by utilizing reusable dinnerware and tablecloths, working with caterers to use reusable items in service and discontinued offering bottled water.
Reduce waste at weekend birthday parties by offering reusable plates, plasticware and cups, napkins made from 100% recycled material and discontinued offering party bags. We also encourage guests to join us in our efforts by giving tips on what types of sustainable supplies they bring in for the party.
We partner with Santa Fe Organic Gardeners, who pick up our scraps every day to turn into compost for use in the campus garden. Check out their Instagram!
The zookeepers use their creativity and ingenuity to make enrichments for the animals with upcycled paper items such as boxes, paper bags and cardboard tubes.
Recently, we have begun to make ecobricks for small retaining walls.