We’re a unique place when it comes to waste! At Auckland Zoo we sort and process the waste generated by the animals we care for, our staff and our visitors.
This Recycling Week (19-25 October 2026) we’re sharing more about the mahi of our grounds team and partners, and how we work to divert more than 80% of our waste from landfill. This is something we’re really proud of, and we continuously aim to better this.
In late 2025, we phased out single use coffee cups and we’re now keeping 170,000 cups out of our waste streams each year!
What happens to visitor, staff and animal waste at Auckland Zoo
When you visit the Zoo, you’ll see these bins in place around our grounds that help us to manage our waste streams.
To ensure our waste is separated into the right categories (and we’re not accidentally contaminating our green or recyclable items) all of the items from these bins are processed in a behind the scenes area by our grounds team and our hand sorters. This ensures all of the items that can be recycled or composted will be.
Once we hand sort these items, all of the recyclable material is collected by Enviro NZ to be taken to dedicated waste management facilities. There are separate facilities for paper and cardboard, soft plastics, timber, co-mingled recycling, green waste and food waste.