Today's Hours: 9am - 5pm
At the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, we're on a mission to turn Ohio into a green oasis for future generations!
Join other conservation heroes as we embark on a journey to save the planet together. Explore exciting initiatives, get hands-on with green projects, and be part of a community that's making a difference. Together, we're creating a sustainable world that our kids and grandkids will thank us for – because at the Columbus Zoo, every guest is a force for positive change!
Embark on a journey towards a greener future with our sustainability initiatives!
Energy
Transportation
Landscape and Grounds
Food and Beverage
Waste
Education and OutreachHere are just a few of the many endeavors in the name of sustainability underway at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium!
Our animals create more than 5 tons of waste every day of the year. We take the manure, bedding, and food scraps to a commercial composting facility, where some of it becomes soil compost for gardens and flower beds at the Zoo. Our guests can even purchase a bag of the Zoo Brew compost at the Zoo Marketplace gift shop to help nourish their gardens at home!
Visitors at the Mapori Restaurant in the Heart of Africa can help the Zoo in composting by separating compostable items from recyclables!
The Zoo takes steps to reduce our energy footprint wherever possible. A few of the ways we do this are:
At the Columbus Zoo, we have two solar arrays. Located in our Polar Frontier region, the 308-panel system provides solar energy to the Saltwater Life Support System (LSS). The second array is located on the roof of the Suzie Edwards Conservation Education Classrooms building. These 165 solar panels help reduce energy use for this building. These arrays will help the Zoo continue to benefit from the generated clean energy for many years!
Lighting Upgrades. We continue to replace traditional light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs, including in the historic 1914 Mangels-Illions Grand Carousel. Energy-efficient bulbs reduce emissions and provide cost savings.
LED Lights for Wildlights. Thanks to the generous support of AEP Ohio, we have converted 3 million conventional holiday lights to LED lights. LED lights use only a tiny amount of the energy traditional lights use, and they last up to 200,000 hours instead of the 26,000 hours of conventional lights. They also stay cooler than traditional lights, making them a safer choice. When strands of light break, we recycle them through Goodwill Columbus.
Smart Lighting. An upgrade in lighting for the Zoo's warehouse and the giraffe and hoofstock barns in Heart of Africa help save us energy and money! Ciaralights© are, simply put, massive skylights that use a mirror panel to capture the maximum amount of sunlight before channeling a diffusor panel. The mirror uses a GPS-enabled motor to track the sun all day.
Three restaurants at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium--Mapori Restaurant, Lakeside Grill, and Shores Park Cafe--are certified as Green Restaurants by the Green Restaurant Association! These restaurants meet science-based certification standards in environmental sustainability.
When you visit My House in our North America region, you get more than a trip through Ohio’s habitats. You can learn about green buildings and why they’re important! My House’s exterior walls were made from a technique we learned from the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio. We mixed polystyrene lunch trays from schools with concrete. Other green materials include shingles made from recycled vinyl and fiber, reclaimed fiber and concrete siding, and indoor floors and play surfaces made from reclaimed tires. Our chairs, rain barrels, and compost bins are made of recycled plastic and barn timbers salvaged from other barns. A windmill aerates the pond, and solar roof panels power electricity.
Recycling keeps trash out of landfills and saves the energy needed to make products from raw materials. We think it’s a significant conservation effort, so we practice it daily. We recycle everything we can at the Zoo from traditional items like paper, glass, plastic bottles, and printer cartridges to cell phones and batteries, and even more.
Polar bears are facing big threats to their Arctic home as a result of climate change. When we built our beautiful Polar Frontier region, finding a way to provide heating and cooling while also curbing our emissions was the right thing to do. We installed a geothermal system that heats and cools the buildings.
The geothermal system didn’t just help Polar Frontier. We took it a step further by reconfiguring our water treatment facility to work on a geothermal system. When we built Heart of Africa, we tapped into the existing geothermal system to provide renewable heating and cooling energy for the Mapori Restaurant system.
We are proud of our sustainability work and the recognition it has received.
Since 2018, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, with zoo and aquarium partners, led the Plastic Free Ecochallenge. During this international, month-long initiative, participants earn points by reducing their use of single-use plastic items. Each year, our Zoo coordinates the event, and we are pleased with the collective impact we are making. Fun fact: In 2021, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium became the first zoo to introduce Ball aluminum cups as an alternative to single-use plastic pilsner cups on Zoo grounds. Aluminum water bottles were also added in Adventure Cove and Polar Frontier regions of the Zoo.
Be sure to visit our Everyday Actions page to get involved in the Plastic Free Ecochallenge, too!
