WastED - A Waste and Recycling Podcast by SWACO
WasteED is a waste and recycling education podcast from SWACO. Hosted monthly by Joe Lombardi and Hanna Greer-Brown, our guests offer insights into regional efforts helping to push sustainability forward as well as sharing their perspective on the next big GREEN thing for central Ohio. Between a few laughs plus genuine and substantive conversation, each episode features takeaways about proper disposal that will have listeners recycling right in no time. Find us on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you listen!
WastED - A Waste and Recycling Podcast by SWACO
The Wild Side of Sustainability: Inside Columbus Zoo's Green Initiatives
Stepping behind the scenes at the world-famous Columbus Zoo and Aquarium reveals an extraordinary commitment to sustainability that extends far beyond animal care. In this enlightening conversation with Tom Schmid, President and CEO, and Kristeena Blaser, Director of Sustainability, we discover how this beloved institution manages its massive ecological footprint while working to save wildlife across the globe.
The scale of operations at the Columbus Zoo is staggering - processing 1.6 million pounds of animal food annually while maintaining an impressive 80% waste diversion rate. From transforming animal waste into coveted "Zoo Brew" fertilizer to recycling everything from electronics to Halloween candy wrappers, the zoo demonstrates that conservation begins with daily choices. Their innovative partnerships with local organizations like Price Farms Organics and SWACO showcase how collaborative efforts amplify environmental impact.
We explore the zoo's ambitious sustainability targets, including their goal to achieve zero waste certification by 2040, and learn about their newly rebranded WILD Zero Waste Challenge launching July 1st. This mobile app-based initiative has already engaged 48,000 participants, preventing 1.6 million single-use plastic items from reaching landfills.
The conversation expands to showcase recent developments across their five entities - including the $35 million North America Trek featuring enhanced habitats for bears, river otters, and Mexican wolves and groundbreaking global conservation initiatives.
Whether you're a wildlife enthusiast, sustainability advocate, or simply curious about how all the animals are taken care of, this episode offers fascinating insights into how one of the world's premier zoos is creating a model for conservation. Discover how you can participate through visiting, volunteering, or joining to make your own environmental impact measurable and meaningful.
Welcome to Waste Ed a waste and recycling podcast by SWACO. Welcome everyone to episode 10 of Waste Ed, and once again we're taking the show on the road. Quick hint as to where we are it's one of the most prolific and famous places anywhere for animal research, rescues and conservation. You know it? We're at the world famous Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Speaker 3:And Hannah, you've got to admit it's one of the most visited places in Columbus and a wonderful zoo. If you're from out of town and you're listening, please join us and come to our zoo and see the great exhibits that we have here. Our guests today are Christina Blazer, director of Sustainability, and Tom Schmidt, president and CEO of the zoo. Welcome to both of you.
Speaker 4:Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 3:Tom, just real quick of you. Thanks so much for having us. Tom, just real quick describe your job. Is it just going around checking out animals? What's the job of the president and CEO of the zoo?
Speaker 4:Yeah, mostly just walk around the zoo and pick up trash. No, this is a fairly complex enterprise. So we have four entities that actually five. Now the Columbus Zoo is the largest entity. But we have four entities that actually five now the Columbus Zoo is the largest entity. But we have the Wilds, which is our wildlife conservation center in Muskingum County. We have Zumbisi Bay Water Park, we have Safari Golf Club and then we just launched a new initiative, the Columbus Center for Wildlife Conservation, which is a separate 501c3. That will be kind of the umbrella organization for all of our, which is a separate 501c3. That will be kind of the umbrella organization for all of our conservation work in the future, Keeping all these kind of projects going resource development, a lot of community engagement, as well as just connecting with our teams in all of our parks to make sure we have a high level of engagement. So it's a big job and I really enjoy it.
Speaker 3:Great.
Speaker 2:There's so many cool things to see and do when you visit the zoo. Christina, tell us a little bit. As director of sustainability, what does your typical day look like?
Speaker 1:I mean, it differs every day, but my job is really about looking at the big picture and making sure that sustainability is woven into just about everything we do here. So that means working across all of the departments here, from horticulture to animal care, to the facilities, team, education, guest services you name it all. I have my hand in it somehow, probably, but I might be involved on a daily basis, from things like energy efficiency projects or waste reduction, but first and foremost, it's always mission driven. So at the end of the day, we're here to empower people and save wildlife, so sustainability is a massive part of that. You know they have to have ecosystems to call homes, we have to have buildings to house our animals things like that. Um. So my goal is to incorporate in sustainability into not just um our mission, but how we operate as an organization and making sure that we're really leading by example when it comes to not just conservation but also sustainability.
Speaker 3:Tom, when most people think about the zoo, all they really think about are the animals. But even though SWACO and the zoo have very different business models, we have a lot in common too. We both are vastly committed to sustainability, recycling and reusing and composting for a better world for all life. Super broad. Let's discuss the zoo sustainability efforts.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So that's interesting and, as Christina mentioned, this really touches every department at the zoo, and one of the first things we did as an organization after I arrived was a new strategic plan, and the third pillar of that strategic plan is really focused on sustainability in the broad sense. I mean we're going to celebrate our 100th anniversary in two years, wow. So what do we need to do today and tomorrow and next week and next month and next year to make sure this institution is thriving and relevant 100 years from now? And a key part of that again is sustainability. And, looking at that really broadly, I mean our DEI program actually in some respects falls under sustainability. We want to make sure we've got a workforce for the future and moving toward paid internships, to make sure we have a diverse group of people that understand there are great opportunities at the zoo. So all the things that Christina mentioned, from our physical facilities to how we manage water and energy all that falls under that sustainability, that long-term perspective component, which is integral to our new strategic plan.
Speaker 2:Wow, and I imagine part of how you incorporate sustainability into your day-to-day operations even extends to how you feed the animals here at the zoo. Can you talk a little bit about your composting and reusing efforts at the zoo?
Speaker 1:Obviously, feeding thousands of animals is definitely no small task. So I actually reached out to our animal nutrition department to get specific numbers so I could truly show how massive it is. We're talking about 1.6 million pounds of food annually, and that also doesn't include our browse program, so browse is just like leafy foliage or branches. That is a huge part of all of our herbivore diets. And that's roughly 200 miles. It's about almost a million linear feet. So end to end that's about you'd be able to reach space about three times over. So obviously with all of that food comes a lot of waste, mostly a lot of poop.
Speaker 1:You know things like leftover food waste, animal manure, animal bedding, even yard waste. We compost as much of it as we can. So every year between our three parks here located in Columbus, that's roughly about 200,000 tons of waste. However, we have about an 80% diversion rate. So that means 80% of that 2000 tons is going to either compost, recycling or reuse. So we partner with a local partner, price Farms Organics, to compost all of every, all of our those main things namely.
Speaker 1:But we also recycle a vast majority of things and have non-traditional streams as well. So we recycle small handheld electronics through our Gorillas on the Line program, which is actually an association of zoos and aquariums, kind of like our governing body. It's a save animals from extinction program. So it helps go back directly to gorilla conservation, directly to Gorilla Conservation. We recycle larger electronics through Accurate IT. We recycle our HDPE plastics through ADS, which is a local drainage company, and you know we have a lot of smaller stream.
Speaker 1:Things like our candy wrappers for Boo at the Zoo are recycled through TerraCycle. So they take them and create new wrappers out of them. Last year we were able to capture over half of 250,000 pieces of candy before they even left the zoo. So we were able to make a pretty good dent in the waste that would have been created by that event. But we have a lot of different programs that kind of help us minimize that impact where we can, and we saw a massive uptick in our diversion stream about three years ago and so we've been able to hopefully the goal is by 2040 to achieve a net zero, a zero waste, campus certification of some sort, which we're very close to, so that last 10% is going to be really hard.
Speaker 3:It's always that last 10 to 15%. But you mentioned Price Farms and when I first started at SWACO I did go out and visit Price Farms and they mentioned Zoo Brew and at first I thought it was a beer but apparently it's not. I know it's a collaboration between Price Farms and the zoo to compost Tom. What can they use Zoo Brew for?
Speaker 4:So is it Zoo Brew or is it Zoo Dew? They have that wonderful manure that they sell and it's coveted by folks that live in this region and I sort of want in the back of my mind yeah, it's great for gardening, but maybe in a roundabout way they also feel good about it because it's coming from the zoo and they feel like they're participating in our sustainability program. So no, I hear it's. Uh, here it's really good stuff. Price farms they are.
Speaker 3:They know what they're doing yeah, it's an amazing operation it is, it really is. And I was surprised when we were out there and they were talking about that collaboration and it was interesting go well, the zoo brings you. And he just kind of looked at me on my eye Got it, got it, no, no, no more to be said.
Speaker 1:So do you want better. They also sell or Zubruti now, which is essentially the runoff from the liquids that are created when the materials break down and compost, and it's in this giant container. And I came and they were like, oh, um, yeah, zubrutis are new, like one of our best-selling things, and I was like people are drinking, not realizing that it was actually like a nutrient soil and I was like why are people?
Speaker 2:people shouldn't be drinking that well, joe, didn't you just plant a couple of tomato plants?
Speaker 3:I planted six, and thus far they're doing well.
Speaker 2:Sounds like you need some zoo brew.
Speaker 3:Sounds like it.
Speaker 2:Well, I know, christina, you talked about so many sustainability efforts occurring here at the zoo and I know SWACO always appreciates the opportunity to partner with you. Just this past April, for Earth Day, we did our styrofoam recycling event up here at the zoo and the team back at SWACO back at the office told me that we were able to fill up a 40-yard container that weighed about 190 pounds with styrofoam. That doesn't seem like a lot, but when you think about styrofoam being 95% air, we really collected and diverted a lot of that material from the landfill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's obviously one of our favorite partnerships that we have with SWACO.
Speaker 1:I mean, styrofoam is one of the hardest products to recycle, so there's minimal opportunity for that and really I think for the past. So I've been here since 2023. I know the past three years that we've done it here. We've filled up almost a full truck each time which, like you said, doesn't seem like it's a lot, but when you think of how light styrofoam is, it's actually a massive amount. And we have people in the community that will save their styrofoam for almost an entire year to succumb and drop it off here for that day and always are so appreciative of the fact that this is an opportunity because, again, it's just, it's not always something. It's not something you put in your single stream system or your curbside recycling and so they don't know what to do with it, but want to have an impact and you know SWACO is always great in helping us make sure that we can try and have sort of that specialized stream for people to look forward to or to divert from if we can Well.
Speaker 2:Thank you again for the opportunity to set that up up here. I remember the first year. I think we did it, even though it's a spring event it snowed and we still had a line of cars waiting to drop off that styrofoam. So the other thing that's coming up next month in the month of July is Plastic Free July, and you guys usually sponsor something called the Eco Challenge. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we don't just sponsor it, we help create it, so it's sort of a collaborative event. It started back in 2018 with a platform called Eco Challenge. They host the challenge for us and since then it's honestly had a massive impact and we've had almost 48,000 participants across all 50 states. We've been able to divert almost 1.6 million pieces of single-use plastic from the landfill. People have spent over 630,000 minutes learning about different zero-waste living initiatives, and then they've taken almost a million individual actions recording over 350 behavioral changes. That lasted longer than just the month-long challenge, and I'm super stoked because this year we actually completely overhauled it, so we felt like it needed a big refresh, so we have changed the name. It's now called the WILD Zero Waste Challenge. Wild is an acronym standing for Walk Intentionally Live Differently.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:It's hosted on a new platform, so it's a platform called Jewelbug. It's actually app-based now. So one of the most common things we heard from our participants that they wished that it was an app so that they could engage with the challenge a bit easier rather than having to go to a desktop. And we luckily found Jewelbug this year, who have been amazing partners in this process. We have a new branding, new communication templates, everything, and that launches on the 1st as well. It's open to anybody and everybody.
Speaker 1:We typically try and target zoo and aquariums as participants because there are very minimal challenges or like engagement platforms that are just specifically for them. But we always extend a public invitation to our guests or the community that want to join. They're welcome to join our Columbus Zoo team. We have a Columbus Zoo and the Wilds team to match our sort of collective impact. And the great thing about Jewel Bug is they actually give each individual participant a snapshot of what their impact is. So it tells you how much you're saving in carbon emissions and how much water you've saved and waste you've diverted, and it gives you that in real time. So every single action you're doing you can see that tangible impact at the end, and our goal is to do some cool presentation at AZA, like at an annual conference or something about it, because we've heard nothing but positive feedback so far, so we're pretty excited about it.
Speaker 2:Well, how motivating to be able to see your impact in real time, so I love that.
Speaker 3:And I know at the zoo, Tom, you do not provide straws at the zoo for many reasons.
Speaker 4:We try to explain to our guests that having a straw accidentally fall into an animal habitat, animals are curious, they tend to eat things and a lot of bad things can happen if a river otter or some other animal consumes a straw. So that's the primary reason. I mean, honestly, from our perspective too, if we can help change behavior and get folks to realize maybe they don't need a straw, that's a good thing too, because then that's less plastic that ends up at the landfill or even you know something less that you have to recycle. So I think there's really two factors, but the animal well-being concern is probably number one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I know we encourage a lot of our residents to use reusable cups and compostable plates and ditch the plastic forks and spoons and use regular silverware and plates at their functions. You know, tom, the zoo is always working on something big and they're always thinking out of the box. And you know, I would love to know what's coming soon, what's the big thing here at the zoo and what conservation efforts are behind that.
Speaker 4:Sure, sure. Well, a couple of things I will share with you. We are taking a little bit of a breather this week. We opened at 10 am last Friday North America Trek that was about a $35 million project and then two hours later we opened up Conservation Tower at Zumbizi Bay. So that's another $9 million, and then, three weeks before that, we opened up the Hellbender RV Park at the.
Speaker 4:Wild. So you start adding that up. We're getting close to 50 million. So, yeah, one week breather and then we start again. But the North America trek was such a big project. That's 15 acres, one of the largest and oldest sections of the zoo. So phase one really only covered about 60% of that. So new habitats for our bear, river otter, mexican wolf, our new Ohio Center for Wildlife Conservation. We still have to do some reimagining of our moose habitats, our habitats for our mountain lion, wolverine, canadian lynx. So that's kind of the second phase of that. We're actually starting design work on that this summer and then hopefully start construction within the next year. So that's kind of the second piece of that. A lot of exciting things happening at the wild. So we have officially broken ground on the giraffe lodge. So imagine a beautiful new, state-of-the-art barn for our giraffe you can actually spend the night in.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow so that's going to be a lot of fun and that should come online in about 18 months and then, from a conservation perspective, really excited. So we just launched. There's a couple big initiatives that we've been focusing on. One is creating a new center for species survival for Asian elephants. So we actually created this center in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India, working with the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in India. So there's several of these zoos. There's several zoos that have created centers at their campus campus we're the first zoo in the world that's ever created one actually in country, and we knew that if we wanted to try to save Asian elephants from extinction, we needed to do that work in India and in Asia and not in Powell Ohio. So that's about a $3 million initiative over the next five years.
Speaker 4:We also just launched a new initiative bringing together all the partners around the Caribbean to help save manatees from extinction. So we've been focused on manatee rescue and rehabilitation for the last 20 years, but again we're looking at it much broader now. We know if we want to save that species from extinction we can't just rescue animals in Florida. We have to look at the entire Caribbean, look at entire habitats, see where they're degraded, see what can we do with the range states down there to come up with conservation action plans. And then the third one I'll mention just quickly is our Center for North American Bison Conservation. So that's another new initiative where we are actually working with indigenous populations around the country to reintroduce bison to prairies. So last year around the country to reintroduce bison to prairies. So last year we sent 60 bison to South Dakota working with the indigenous populations there to reintroduce those animals. So we really want to help bring bison back to prairies around the country.
Speaker 3:Are you able to get a vacation?
Speaker 4:I do. I don't know about the staff. No, we have. We've had a pretty busy last few years and just excited about our future. There's so many opportunities here. With all of our partners and the resources that we have here in central Ohio the supportive community we're bullish on our future.
Speaker 3:That's great. That's great.
Speaker 2:Being born and raised in Columbus Ohio. I mean, let me just say the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is such a gem for our community and something that we, as people visit our community, tell them, hey, you've got to check the zoo out before you leave. So thank you for all of the work that you're doing. It's so important. Something else I wanted to mention that I think our listeners would want to know is that it's easy to become a family member here in three different ways volunteering, membership and working here. Can you guys talk a little bit about those opportunities?
Speaker 4:Yeah, volunteering, membership and working here. Can you guys talk a little bit about those opportunities? Yeah, so we have a big staff. We have over 400 full-time and 1,500 seasonal and part-time employees and we're always looking for new team members, new talent in all of our different parks. So on any given day you can check online and see the positions that we have available. So that's certainly an opportunity. We have, I think, one of the strongest volunteer and docent programs of any zoo in the country. We have over 500 docents and volunteers and they work in every aspect of our operations, both here and at the wilds.
Speaker 4:Lots of opportunities. We have some docents that have been with us for over 40 years, so it's a. They bring so much life to the interpretation of our habitats as well as just helping our teams behind the scenes, and we've got a whole series of training programs that we've set up for folks that want to do that. And then lots of membership categories. Again, I would recommend folks just go online from a simple single membership to family to sort of higher-level memberships where you can experience all the different rides that we have our 4D theater and even programs with Zumbizi Bay. So lots of opportunities If you're a local and you think you might come to the zoo twice. You're better off buying a membership. It literally pays for itself in two visits.
Speaker 1:I always tell people, instead of mall walk, you should just come to the zoo and mall walk at the zoo, because you get to look at animals in the process.
Speaker 3:And when my children were younger, that was dad's day out when mom was working on Saturday. They were getting a little antsy. I'd take them to the zoo and that was a great two and a half hours of wearing them out.
Speaker 2:Joe, like you, I used to bring my kids here when they were little too. But I got to ask what was your favorite exhibit when you would come.
Speaker 3:You know I'm a tiger guy. I really the tigers are just so cool. I don't know what it is about them, but they're just really cool how about yourself.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love elephants, but I love them all. How about you guys?
Speaker 4:Well, I'll say, up until last week the heart of Africa was my favorite habitat here. I remember when I first came to part of the interview process to be the CEO here and I remember it was in the summer and I walked up to the savanna habitat. I hadn't been to the Columbus Zoo in probably 15 or 20 years, so the heart of Africa wasn't open when I'd been here before. And I just remember walking up there and seeing that vista and just really understanding I mean, that's a 30-acre habitat for these animals, mixed species. And I thought to myself this is the best savanna habitat of any zoo in North America and it may be one of the best in the world. So I think the team really knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 2:But North America track is pretty amazing and so I walk through that every day.
Speaker 4:I have over the last six months during construction and I think, just from the aesthetic, the interpretation out there, how we design these habitats, we're looking up at animals, not down at animals, which is much better for their well-being. The river otter habitat is phenomenal. I want to get in there with the river otter. It just looks amazing. So that's. I think the team really did a remarkable job with that.
Speaker 3:Christina.
Speaker 1:Not to be stereotypical or to feed into my own profession. I'm a polar bear sucker. I love polar bears and our polar bears are some of my favorite that I've seen at any zoo, because they like to sleep fully pancake style, with all of their limbs extended out as flat to the ground as they can and just like pass out, and it's adorable. I will say, though, much as to what Tom alluded to. After the opening of North America, the American River, the North American river otters have become one of my favorite. River. Otters have become one of my favorite. I've never walked past that exhibit without them just in the water, playing constantly, looking like they're living their best life. Except yesterday I walked out through North America and they were up on top of the rock flat on their backs with their stomachs up to the sun, just like setting themselves, because they were tired from swimming so much. But the improvement from the previous, the previous habitat to this current one is night and day, and it is so amazing to see. You can feel their joy. It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you both for joining us and hosting us today here at the zoo, and to our listeners. If you'd like to know more about what we do, visit our website anytime at swacoorg. We also want to hear from you if you have any ideas for future podcast episodes. Connect with us on any of our social channels or you can always drop us an email. Until next time, this is waste ed, a waste and recycling podcast by Swaco. Bye.