Green Practices
Zoos and Aquariums: Green Practices Success Stories
Each of the seven members of the NW Zoo & Aquarium Alliance has already taken significant steps toward reducing its ecological footprint. Here are a few highlights, with links to more information.
Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, Washington)
Woodland Park Zoo has an extensive on-site program, Zoo Doo, to compost manure from all the non-primate herbivorous animals. Manure is mixed with straw bedding, grass, leaves, and wood chips from zoo grounds. This creates one million pounds of compost each year (saving $60,000 per year in disposal costs). The rich soil amendment is available for sale to visitors.
Woodland Park Zoo—Green Practices
Seattle Aquarium (Seattle, Washington)
Seattle Aquarium recently installed an octopus-shaped bike rack to encourage visitors to commute to the Aquarium by bike and reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, we started irrigating plants using rainwater from water barrels. Seattle Aquarium—Green Practices
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (Tacoma, Washington)
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium was recently awarded the highest-level certification by EnviroStars, a program in the Puget Sound area that certifies businesses for reducing, recycling, and properly managing hazardous waste.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium—Green Practices
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (Eatonville, Washington)
Northwest Trek uses green practices in managing hundreds of acres that sustain rich and diverse habitats for native wildlife. Pesticide use is held to an absolute minimum. Large trees knocked down in a December 2006 windstorm were donated to the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group for use in engineered log jams that enhance salmon habitat in the Mashel River.
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park—Green Practices
Oregon Zoo (Portland, Oregon)
The Oregon Zoo is aggressively reducing its waste stream, with waste diversion currently at 73%. Major changes include: on-site composting of herbivore waste (83,000 pounds per month; compost used for landscaping), zoo-wide color-coded recycling of diverse materials, reusable tableware at the grill, 100% compostable picnics, and composting for food waste.
Oregon Zoo—Green Practices
Oregon Coast Aquarium (Newport, Oregon)
The Oregon Coast Aquarium established our Green Team in 2007, with the goal of becoming a zero-impact institution. In the first year, we installed recycling bins in public areas, switched the backup generator to biodiesel, reduced paper use, and added compost bins in the kitchens.
Oregon Coast Aquarium
ZooBoise (Boise, Idaho)
ZooBoise recently invested in a variable-speed pump to replace an old, inefficient, single speed model. The new pump will pay for itself quickly through reduced electricity bills. It will also reduce our carbon footprint, and reduce our water use by 14.6 million gallons annually.
ZooBoise—Green Practices
Other Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums provides resources for institutions interested in starting a green team or enhancing their green practices. This website also includes links to a number of zoos and aquariums with strong green practices programs, including several from the Pacific Northwest.
Association of Zoos & Aquariums—Green Resources
