Sustainability

Our Mission

As a team of people dedicated to safeguarding the future for a variety of species around the world, it is our duty and passion to lead by example and set the way to a sustainable environment for all.

We will achieve this by ensuring all staff have a regard for the world around them and the species their actions can affect. We encourage healthy, sustainable lifestyles for our team and visitors, which will hopefully have a secondary behavioural impact in their day-to-day lives. This encouragement will come through education, compassion for our animals and through spreading our message across the site.

Our Achievements So Far...

• Having a Committee which meets once a month to discuss actions and issues regarding sustainability on site, including representatives from every department (including keepers, education, corporate, marketing, directors, maintenance, catering & retail, gardens and park services)
• An Education Officer who is now part of the BIAZA Environmental Sustainability Working Group, who will meet with staff from other zoos across the UK twice a year to discuss ideas and obstacles
• Use of Vegware (plant-based, compostable disposables) in the restaurant
• Use of low-carbon “Born in the UK” cups (made from recycled and recyclable materials with their own collection programme to ensure cups are recycled properly)
• LED lights in the majority of animal enclosure (low wattage meaning low carbon)
• Rain water collection available for the gardening team
• Browse for animal feeds grown and managed on site: Reduces transport needs and costs
• Animal waste collected and used as fertiliser in local farms (excluding cat and primate waste as this is a contamination issue); also includes food waste from the zoo and staff room
• Paper straws only on site
• Part of the 2018 poppy appeal was to provide plastic bottles to a local artist who will created an installation in the local town centre
• Yearly participation in Great British Beach Clean alongside regular local litter picks
• Old browse and fallen trees etc. used for enrichment and enclosure design for other animals
• Supporting local wildlife by providing bird boxes, plenty of plants for pollinators and undisturbed land for rarer animals like stag beetles, slow worms and newts
• All wood used for new animal enclosures is FSC approved
• Bee hives on-site maintained by a local bee farmer
• We have been zero waste- to-landfill for 3 years running
• Energy efficient fridges in Tiger Treetops run on timers to reduce carbon footprint
• All our picnic benches are made from recycled plastic
• All keeper talks contain a conservation message, many with information on how visitors can be reducing their own impact on the Earth
• High social media presence with a large focus on environmental conservation messages
• Multiple formal education options including talks on climate change, helping habitats, conservation and eco-tourism for a variety of ages
• Currently in the process of implementing a food waste system for the restaurants, water fountains on site and developing messaging for visitors to understand why and how they can help us to create a greener planet
• Aims to assess many aspects of our sustainability measures and reduce our environmental impact greatly by 2025

What we Would Like to Achieve

• Reduce our carbon footprint further
• Plant trees in our local area and participate in community garden projects
• Increase our efforts in providing homes and resources for native wildlife
• Educate our visitors about some of the ways that they can help wildlife at home
• Manage our waste streams more efficiently and reduce our waste outgoings
• Implement drinking fountains across the park to discourage the use of disposable drink containers
• Improve the sustainability management of our new-build projects by reducing waste and implementing sustainability enhancement to the design procedure
• Move away from disposable utensils and crockery in our main restaurant
• Improve our range of sustainably sourced products in our retail outlets

Meet the Team

All members of Hertfordshire Zoo Sustainability Committee are passionate and dedicated to their role in improving the environmental impact our site has on the wider world. Find out who the team are, and what has driven them to take part: