When Nature Calls…

©WCS/J.Maher

The Bronx Zoo’s newest exhibit requests a small contribution from its visitors upon entering. Your donation will support water conservation, help flowers grow, and provide healthy meals for red worms, fungi, and bacteria. And it doesn’t take much…just a little of your “liquid assets”!

Surrounded by sun, water, and soil, the Bronx Zoo eco-restrooms, located near the Bronxdale gate, are no typical New York City public facility. Cartoon animals that praise the “power of poop” adorn the stalls and walls of the skylit lavatory. But the graphics, from the children’s book The Truth about Poop by Susan Goodman and illustrated by Elwood Smith, are more than silly scatological humor. They’re also practical, offering advice on conserving resources at home and even providing a recipe for a homemade drain cleaner that won’t harm wildlife.

The restrooms were created both as a conservation measure, as well as a reminder of our intimate connection with the Earth. Just as what goes into the body must come back out, what is taken from the environment must be put back in. At the new restrooms, zoo-goers’ waste is not wasted; instead of entering the sewer system, your contributions—together with those of 500,000 yearly visitors—are flushed into a composting tank below the building. Microorganisms and other critters at the bottom of the food chain eat through the compost tank habitat, transforming its contents into fertilizer. Meanwhile, excess water from the sinks irrigates the gray water garden just outside, where the plants will naturally filter it.

Less than 3 percent of the planet’s water is freshwater, of which humans have access to only a small portion. At the eco-restrooms, this precious resource is cleverly—and cleanly—conserved, through an innovative flush mechanism. Instead of the nearly two gallons of water spent with each flush of a conventional toilet, these facilities accomplish the task with only three ounces of water and a cascade of biocompatible foam. It all adds up to what we like to call “green relief.”

For Media Contact Information, Please Click Here.