Congratulations to Kristopher Wagner for being the winner of our challenge!!! Kristopher, please check your email for a message from us and we can figure out a date to get you your penguin painting!!

Thank you to everyone who participated- even without a penguin painting to prove it, please know you truly made a difference!

Whew, 31 days.  This ecochallenge has certainly made me more aware of many of the ways I can reduce my plastic usage. Avoiding straws, plastic bottles, and plastic bags are some easy things I can continue to incorporate into my daily life.  Some of the challenges were more difficult (composting cat litter, buying only natural fibers) but gave me ideas for how I can reduce my waste/plastic usage even if eliminating it altogether may be a long-term, rather than a short-term, goal.  Go Zoo Tampa!!

Last day - get those last few points!! Thank you so much to everyone who participated! We will be announcing the winner of the penguin painting tomorrow, August 1st.

Collectively we have kept 252 plastic containers, 278 pieces of cutlery, 263 plastic straws, and 115 plastic bottles from entering a landfill. Four documentaries have been watched, three waste audits have been conducted, and a community event has been hosted! Not only that, but 15 hours have been volunteered in the name of plastic reduction and 645 minutes have been spent learning about the perils of single-use plastic. I hope we continue to carry these behaviors past July, and wish everyone the best of luck in their single-use plastic minimization endeavors. 

I wanna thank the zoo for making this group on this challenge, it was fun getting my friends to join in and getting some new earth friendly alternatives to single-use plastics.

Canvas shopping bags are great because they can be used for more than just grocery shopping, I always have 4 or 5 in my trunk and I love the options to choose from. My favorite is an elephant saying, "Earth is not disposable" 

Not to sound like an advertisement, but a Tervis is a great way to not use plastic! They work with cold and hot drinks, come in a bunch of different sizes, are machine washable, and have a lifetime guarantee!

3 more days to log, Zoo Friends!! Let's finish strong :)

I bought reusable produce bags and they're pretty awesome! Not using plastic is better than recycling