Part 3 of the A Green Zoo Series by Erin Reilly: In part 2 of this series, I mentioned how each department of the Denver Zoo has a green team that is responsible for keeping their department as environmentally conscious as possible. Currently, I am an employee of the Denver Zoo’s Kibongi Market Gift Shop. In this article, I felt it would be interesting to go into detail about what the gift shop does to be green and what might be applicable to similar institutions.
Last summer, the gift shop had a green competition to see which department of KM Concessions (the company I work for) could be the most green. The winner of this competition received $100 to spend in any way they liked. At the gift shop, we did several things to be green. These things included bringing our own water bottles to cutting back on the use of plastic cups, recycling the coffee grounds used in the café, using napkins made from recycled paper, using cups and spoons made from corn, limiting each employee to one plastic cup per day for drinks, and recycling cardboard and used batteries. In the end, our department was the greenest department.
Even though the competition ended, the gift shop did not stop doing all they could to be environmental conscious. We still do everything mentioned above and continually look for new ways to help the environment.
Since Earth Day is coming up, we decided to use our $100 to help out the community. On April 22nd, you will find Kibongi Market employees out cleaning up nearby City Park. We feel it is a great way to give back to the community and show that the Denver Zoo cares about the environment.
