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Make your garden grow this spring using Detroit Zoo Poo

Detroit zoo giving away buckets of poo
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Don’t miss out on your chance to get your very own Detroit Zoo Poo!

In honor of Earth Day (April 22), the zoo will be giving out hundreds of buckets of zoo poo. The poo giveaway coincides with the Zoo’s sixth annual GreenFest, a day geared toward community and environmental stewardship.

The first 1,000 guests to visit anaerobic digester educational display on April 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will receive 5-gallon bucket of free Detroit Zoo Poo -- an herbivore compost processed in the DZS’s anaerobic digester and produced in partnership with Detroit Dirt.

The anaerobic digester, located behind the scenes at the Detroit Zoo, annually converts 500 tons of animal manure and other organic waste into methane-rich gas to help power the Zoo’s animal hospital, leaving a nutrient-rich fertilizer as a byproduct.

GreenFest will feature a sustainability tour highlighting the anaerobic digester – the first in Michigan and the only zoo-based system of its kind in the country – and other DZS sustainability initiatives.  These include diverting 60,000 plastic bottles from of the waste stream annually by discontinuing the sale of bottled water on Detroit Zoo grounds and using permeable pavement in visitor pathways and a parking lot.  Guests will also learn about the DZS’s cricket-breeding program, rain gardens and solar energy system, among other green efforts.

For more information, visit the Detroitzoo.com.