Poo, doo, dung, manure – you name it, animals produce it. In fact, Zoo Miami collect 2000 pounds of the stuff every day.
Now, they’re turning it to good use in a bid to reduce, recycle and reuse.
Poo from a range of herbivores including rhinos and elephants is being mixed with ground up trees, plants and landscape matter to create compost. The compost is used by the zoo’s horticultural department to enrich the soil that supports the zoo’s botanical collection.
“Zoo Doo – faeces from endangered species”
Zoo Miami is using a specialised bit of kit to create the compost. Called an Enviro-Drum, it holds ups to 60 cubic yards of material at a time. Once the poo has been collected from six elephants, five rhinos, and three Bantengs (Asian endangered bovines) it is then combined in the composter with the “green” waste.
Once the Enviro-Drum has done its stuff, including heating the mix to 131 degrees to kill weed seeds and speed up the process, hey presto – rich, dark compost.
Branded ‘Zoo Doo – faeces from endangered species’, the compost is now being offered for sale to the public by the bucket as part of its Endangered Species Week celebrations.
Well dung, Zoo Miami!
Image courtesy Zoo Miami
https://www.zoomiami.org/node/1118
