Zooshare Biogas Co-operative recently announced it has received a multi-year grant of $2.67 million from the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), as part of the Low Carbon Economy Fund.
The government funds will support the construction and operation of the Zooshare anaerobic digester that is being built at the Toronto Zoo. It will enable Zooshare to double the processing capacity of feedstock which will consist of animal waste from the Toronto Zoo and organic waste from nearby grocery stores.
With this grant in place, Zooshare will continue with its plans to complete construction this year and reach commercial operations in Spring 2020. Zooshare will also begin the planning work related to the facility’s expansion, which would include adding a second digestion tank and the necessary equipment to clean and inject renewable natural gas (RNG) into nearby pipelines.
About Zooshare
ZooShare is developing North America’s first zoo-based biogas plant. The anaerobic digester will recycle manure from the Toronto Zoo and local food waste into renewable power for the Ontario electricity grid. This process will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and will return valuable nutrients to the soil in the form of a high-quality fertilizer.
The ZooShare mission is to be a catalyst, through education and investment, in the growth of community-owned biogas plants. The Co-op’s business model also creates investment opportunities that keep energy dollars in the local economy.
