The OKC Zoo and Botanical Garden sends this information as posted below:
A new partnership between the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden and OKC-based Fertile Ground Cooperative is yielding wild benefits for Oklahoma City residents. Fertile Ground is offering residents the opportunity to earn free admission tickets to the Oklahoma City Zoo when they participate in their home composting program. Participants will receive a point for each pound of food scrap collected by Fertile Ground and for every 20 points earned they will receive a free general admission ticket to the OKC Zoo. This offer is limited to a maximum of six (6) OKC Zoo tickets per person and valid through December 31, 2026.
The Zoo is also one of several drop-off points for the Community Food Scrap Drop-Off Program, which helps residents keep their food waste from going into landfills.
“The Zoo is now one of 17 spots throughout the metro where residents can drop off compostable food waste for Fertile Ground to process,” said OKC Zoo’s Director of Buildings and Botanical Gardens, Darren Goad. “Those who participate in this home composting program are eligible to receive a free 5-gallon bucket of finished compost annually.”
The Zoo partnered with Fertile Ground in 2025 to compost both food and animal waste, which is turned into OKC ZOO POO and sold at special events throughout the year. Since the partnership began in July 2025, the Zoo has collected more than 10,000 pounds of food waste and more than 880,000 pounds of herbivore waste for composting, which means that waste is diverted from landfills.
“We are committed to conserving wildlife and wild places, but not everyone realizes this includes Oklahoma, too,” said Dr. Dwight Lawson, OKC Zoo Executive Director and CEO. “Composting not only reduces our waste footprint, it goes into our botanical garden and grounds as well as the gardens of people who buy ZOO POO.”
Fertile Ground provides comprehensive, closed-loop waste management for the Zoo, handling materials that are difficult to process elsewhere, including herbivore manure, hay, tree limbs, plant debris, and food waste. Composting is beneficial for the planet in numerous ways, but one of the most important is that it diverts waste that would otherwise go in a landfill.
“That’s a substantial and measurable positive environmental impact,” Goad said. “Fertile Ground is the only vendor in Oklahoma currently capable of accepting and processing food waste into their composting stream.”
The OKC Zoo is also a free drop-off location for food scraps. The bins are located in front of the Zoo’s Rosser Conservation Education Center. Those interested in taking part in the Community Food Scrap Drop-Off Program can visit fertilegroundok.coop/community-food-scrap-drop-off-program to learn more about locations and acceptable items, as well as to sign up.
The OKC Zoo is located at the crossroads of I-44 and I-35 and a proud member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the American Alliance of Museums, and Oklahoma City’s Adventure District. During the OKC Zoo’s Winter Hours, now through Sunday, March 1, 2026, the park will be open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with last entry at 4 p.m. The Zoo is closed to guests during the day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through Wednesday, February 4, 2026. Purchase Zoo admission in advance at okczoo.org/tickets to avoid the entry lines.
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