Zoo goes wild for eco-friendly efforts

By Dr Duncan East, (pictured) Head of Sustainability at Marwell Wildlife

As a conservation charity, operating as sustainably as possible is a key part of Marwell’s operation.

To start our sustainable journey, we first had to know what our environmental impacts were. In 2007 Marwell became one of the first zoos in the UK to employ a dedicated Sustainability Manager to help us get to grips with identifying, managing, and eliminating environmental impacts.

Implementing the environmental standard, ISO14001 in 2008/9, provided the structure needed to ensure we captured all our impacts. It also ensured we had the processes, measurement and monitoring in place to control and record progress against our ambitions.

We started with quick energy efficiency wins: turning equipment off when not in use, switching to LED lighting, making use of natural light, and upgrading to more efficient equipment for things like refrigeration, IT, and pumping water. We also applied these principles to new projects which were designed to be energy efficient from the start. For example, both Café Graze and the gift shop use natural light reducing the need for artificial light, and Café Graze also uses passive ventilation to reduce the amount of cooling needed.

The larger buildings at Marwell, including the 14thcentury Marwell Hall, were all heated with oil, so we needed a low-carbon alternative. Our herds of large mammals generate sizeable amounts of manure, so we were sure there must be a way to utilise this as a heat source.

Electricity consumption and oil for heating are by far our biggest contributors to our carbon emissions. As such, we switched to renewable energy in 2014, cutting our carbon footprint by 60%.

We also wanted to generate electricity onsite and we now have 160kWp of solar panels. Between them, these generate 150,000kWh per year, enough to power around 40 households.

It wasn’t as easy as we originally thought it would be, but after several years of development, our energy centre is now able to heat six buildings using animal waste. As far as we are aware, Marwell is the first zoo in the world to harness the energy in animal waste and use it to heat buildings.

Our “zoo poo” heating initiative has helped us win a number of accolades including the highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development.

Our journey to carbon neutrality was hampered by the pandemic but we are getting back on plan.

Tackling your carbon emissions is all about identifying the source of emissions and tackling them methodically. Not all can be addressed immediately, and a suitable technology may not exist yet for one area of your business. Tackle the emissions you can now and keep looking for the tech that will solve your more difficult issues.

The world needs us all to be more ambitious – not just achieving but surpassing carbon neutrality; not just saving but having a vision for thriving wildlife; not just being economic with resources but making better use of them.