Recipient Organization
CITY OF NORFOLK
810 UNION ST
NORFOLK,VA 23510
Performing Department
Virginia Zoological Park
Non Technical Summary
The Virginia Zoological Park is located in the City of Norfolk, two miles from the City center and is bordered by the Lafayette River to the north and east and by a registered blighted neighborhood to the south. The City of Norfolk has a population of 244,000 people with a median age 30.5 years and median household income of $53,000. The largest ethnic groups in Norfolk are white 43%, Black or African American 40%, Asian 3.5%, and Hispanic 3.24%. The area of Hampton Roads is made up of seven cities, including Norfolk, and has a population of approximately 1.8M people. The area is home to the world's largest naval base.The Virginia Zoological Park currently serves over 400,000 guests annually, with 12,000 member households and 3,151 military family memberships. Currently, guest attendance is tracked by area: 53% from Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach;16% from other Hampton Roads cities and 32% from outside the area. Approximately 142,000 students experience on-site educational programs annually.The Virginia Zoo presently collects and disposes to landfill approximately 217 tons of organic waste per year coming from the Zoo restaurants, from uneaten food from the animal collection, and from perishable items.The Zoo's current strategic plan, and mission goals, includes composting food waste and organic material. For more than one hundred years, the Virginia Zoo has been evolving to guide, encourage and inspire animal and environmental allies of the future, and inspire a greater caring and compassion for wildlife and the environment. With the Zoo's significant attendance, it is imperative that the organization demonstrate on-site methods to engage technology and resources to educate visitors on sustainable solutions of recycling and upcycling of food waste and compostable materials. The Zoo is in a particularly powerful position to influence the community by demonstrating and delivering messaging that conveys how this process positively impacts the environment, our finances, and their lives.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
This composting project addresses various levels of the food waste recovery hierarchy. For fiscal year 2024, the Virginia Zoo's animal services department has budgeted for a certified nutritionist to review all animal diets to create efficiencies, reduce redundancies, and waste. In fiscal year 2023, the Zoo hired a Director of Concessions to assess present visitor menu offerings, expand healthy food options, and reduce stored and prepared food waste. Our expectation moving forward is to reduce sourced food. Our composting partners include the Elizabeth River Project which focuses on revitalization of the Elizabeth River, part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, restoring wetlands and reducing the impacts of storm and water runoff. The Zoo has been asked to raise wetland plants for these shoreline restoration efforts. The Zoo annually purchases compost material for the expansive garden beds on its 50-acre campus annually. These costs, as well as landfill services and collection fees will be eliminated with a composting program. The Zoo will also provide soil amendments for Virginia master gardeners who manage numerous community and public gardens throughout the region, most prominently placed in low income, underserved, and blighted neighborhoods. Added to this will be the ability of the Zoo composting program to accept perished food waste from the Foodbanks of Hampton Roads.
Project Methods
The practical method of in-vessel composting is dealt with hygienically daily. The Zoo horticulture team will create a Zoo policy to train animal care staff in the process of composting. Aeration and turning is done automatically creating a natural decomposition process that in 6-10 weeks is automatically fed into a final bin. The process takes place in-vessel which prevents unpleasant odor. The biological process generates heat (131-149*) reducing any need for additional energy.The Virginia Zoological Park in-vessel composter will be public facing (See attached rendering of the composting site) and will become part of the Zoo's education and horticulture departments visitor engagement programs with public demonstrations being performed by these teams. This project addresses two main objectives of our strategic plan: Guest Engagement & Experience - The process of composting offers messaging to Zoo visitors encompassing a range of topics to include learning what organic material is, the process of composting, outcomes, and eventually the final product of physically experiencing the Zoo gardens to observe the impact on plants, pollinators, and our senses. Community Impact - Providing compost to grow the plants needs for shoreline and wetlands restoration is a significant regional need as is being a resource for our Foodbanks to discard perished food items. Area residents will see their community landscapes and gardens flourish.Segments of the food chain that will be addressed are food acquisition and resources, reduction of food waste by determining flavorful, quality dietary ingredients to offer both people and animals, and the diversion of some food items from catered and concessions menus to animal care.