The Zoo uses a great deal of water and energy to care for our animals and to make your visit enjoyable. As a conservation organization, our Sustainability Committee is always looking for ways to reduce the Zoo’s environmental impact by recycling and reducing our consumption of resources.
Here are some of the ways we practice conservation at the Zoo.
We use water at the Zoo in all of the normal ways -- drinking, cooking, cleaning, restrooms and landscaping. We also use water for animal care, exhibit pools, waterfalls, water play areas and fountains for your enjoyment.
A few of our water conservation initiatives include water resources master planning at the Zoo, enhancing source water protection, and empowering youth to save the Estuary.
The Zoo has been recycling since the 1990's. Recycling bins are in all of the public areas of the Zoo and behind the scenes. Recently, we set up a recycling program in a local school as part of a science learning project. In addition to recycling plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, aluminum cans and fluorescent light bulbs, our Maintenance Department recycles construction pallets and scrap metal whenever possible.
With more than 1,200 animals, recycling and waste management take on an entirely new meaning. We use non-toxic plant trimmings from our landscaping as food for our animals and we have a small composting pile for on-site gardening. For more than 20 years, the Zoo has collaborated with a local organic farm to recycle animal fecal waste as fertilizer. Sweetwater Farm is also an educational outlet that shares our conservation mission.
In 2012, we asked Tampa Electric (TECO) to conduct a complete energy audit at the Zoo. We are gradually implementing TECO’s recommendations, starting with replacing all of our lighting fixtures with more energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps or LED lamps. Other strategies include replacing inefficient HVAC systems and other equipment, and hardening our power infrastructure to prevent outages that could threaten both human and animal safety.
Florida is known as the “Sunshine State” and Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo is utilizing that sunshine through solar panels atop the African Elephant shade structure. These solar panels generate approximately 195 kWh of energy each day, which is contributed to the Tampa Electric grid. That's enough to power 5.5 homes every day in Florida!
Learn more about what you can do!