Barcelona Zoo is a municipal entity with strong ties to the city.

It controls its waste management very tightly and since 2010, when its on-site green point was built, the volume of waste recycled and reused has gone up every year to the point where it now accounts for 80% of the overall weight.

The Zoo features an enclosed area for selective waste reception, the Green Point, located next to the entrance in the Parc de la Ciutadella and taking up an area of around 200 square metres. It includes waste containers, compacting machinery and enough space to store all the daily waste generated.

The Green Point is visible and accessible to visitors and features an educational room enabling the recycling process to be explained to visiting schoolchildren and the general public.

Most of the specific waste containers are stored at the Green Point.

The main types of waste generated at the Zoo are animal excrements, which are managed differently to organic material and account for more than 70% of the total weight of waste generated. Rubbish accounts for nearly 10% of the total waste and mainly comes from the litter bins in the restaurant section.

Organic waste at the Zoo is collected with metal containers of one cubic metre located near the animal enclosures, each used for the waste generated by the animals’ facilities. This waste is collected daily by staff at the Zoo and taken to the Green Point by a forklift truck.

Trips are made every year to the Zoo's Green Point to transport the organic material generated, totalling roughly 1,200 tonnes.

A small part of these excrements are used directly to make compost at the Zoo, with eight compost holders accumulating enough organic material to make 5-7 tonnes a year.