Edinburgh Zoo poo proves a gardener's delight

Published on Monday 22 March 2010 21:44

GARDENERS around Scotland's capital have discovered a secret ingredient to give their vegetables a boost – dung from zebras, camels, warthogs and rhinoceros at Edinburgh Zoo.

• Rhinoceros add their bit to the zoo's compost heap. Picture: TSPL

The powerful manure is becoming increasingly popular for use on allotments across Edinburgh, and the zoo is keen to put the dung to good use.

It is also being used by the zoo itself to grow cabbages, carrots, lettuces and green beans to feed the chimps, and is spread on the herbaceous borders to make them flourish for visitors.

The zoo, with the help of a student on a work placement, devised a technique to collect and store the dung to avoid sending it to landfill – which costs 50 a tonne.

It is dumped on a concrete pad which was built by the army and turns into a rich manure after about a year.

When the zoo discovered it had a surplus of the compost, it agreed to donate the muck to gardeners around the city.

Simon Jones, gardens manager, said he thought the compost was even more potent than normal manures.

"Because of the variety of animals we have made it from, which all have slightly different nutritional requirements, the result is very rich in nutrients," he said.

"The evidence we have seen is that it's fantastic for growing vegetables."

It is collected from all "hoofstock" animals, which include zebras, camels, warthogs, kudu, bongo and rhinoceros. These animals all have several stomachs, which means the dung is well digested and does not carry diseases like that from carnivores.

The zoo only charges a small fee to cover the cost of driving it out and dumping it on allotments across the capital, ranging from those in Dean Gallery to Inverleith Park.

Mr Jones said: "It has just spread by word of mouth. People get in cahoots with each other and get a load of manure and then share it out."

Hermione Taylor, an evolutionary biology student from the University of Edinburgh, helped to think of the idea for recycling the dung.

She spent eight weeks on a summer placement at the zoo in the role of waste auditor, as part of the Environmental Placement Programme (EPP) run by the Business Environment Partnership. Ms Taylor discovered that about a tonne of hoofstock dung was being created a week.

She also thought up a system that has led to a fivefold increase in cardboard and paper recycling at the zoo.

Geoff Harris, the zoo's environmental officer, said: "There has been a wholesale culture change in the whole organisation and EPP has played a significant role in this.

"Staff are taking the message on board and getting behind the whole environmental campaign."