The Eco-Restroom: Inspiring Visitors to Think When They Flush
By Jessica Bicknell and Sonal Bhatt
We at the Bronx Zoo are committed to helping our visitors learn to care for nature. The ever-present challenge for us is how to share this mission in a holistic way that resonates and inspires visitors to action without being preachy, didactic or simply a downer. We are constantly trying to find new ways to connect with our audience. Exhibits and animals are a good start, but what about the intermediate spaces? How can we connect with our visitors there? This was our challenge.
As with most institutions, amenities are an important part of how we serve our audiences. The Bronx Zoo’s need for new toilets near one of its entrances provided the perfect new opportunity to share the zoo’s mission of environmental conservation and education by making a sustainable restroom that was not only aesthetically pleasing but was environmentally responsible as well as inspiring for our visitors. The result was the Bronx Zoo eco-restroom—the first composting toilet in a New York City public park accompanied by an exhibit.
The Mission/Background
The Bronx Zoo is owned and operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an organization that manages national and international conservation projects, research and education programs in New York City and 60 nations worldwide. Part of the mission of WCS is to “change individual attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in sustainable interaction on both a local and a global scale.” This mission is expressed through the exhibits in the zoo.
Although this messaging frequently involves information about what visitors can do to help animals, a large part of conserving wildlife is conserving the environment that the wildlife depends on. In the past, the Bronx Zoo had often avoided giving a message of broader conservation and ecological practices. As many conservation issues became increasingly imperative to address, we realized that helping our visitors find personal relevance with these issues was vital.
The Eco-Restroom was a departure from traditional ways of presenting the conservation message in both design and tone. It has single-handedly created a new vision for our institution in terms of what constitutes an exhibit.
The Eco-Restroom
The Eco-Restroom is located at one of our busiest park entrances, seeing more than 60 percent of our 2 million visitor-per-year audiences. It is by no means a conventional restroom. The 1,200-square-foot “green” restroom incorporates sustainable design strategies such as maximizing the use of daylight and minimizing electrical use, as well as utilizing environmentally friendly materials and composting toilets. The building was sited to minimize impact on existing trees and landscape. A grey water garden is planted adjacent to the building; plant material will help to filter and clean the grey water, which comes from the sinks in the rest room. The odorless composting units require very little water and produce clean and viable compost.
The grey water garden is designed to provide a biological treatment for the water used in hand washing in the restroom. The garden is composed of special soil and a mixture of plants that are appropriate for such a moist environment and our climate. Signs at the grey water garden explain how water can be recycled. They alert visitors to the fact that the water that they used to wash their hands traveled to this outside garden, where it will help the plants grow and help the environment too.
A rain barrel collects water to be used in the rainwater garden, and the rainwater garden was built at a low point on the site to collect storm water from the surrounding area as well as water from the roof. Plants here are suitable to environments that are both wet and dry to accommodate all seasons, and the signs surrounding share information on how visitors can conserve water by setting up their own rainwater collection area, with the added note of how to prevent mosquito infestation.
In addition to the challenge of using unconventional practices and interpreting all these measures, no one knew exactly how zoo visitors would respond to a composting toilet. Although these toilets looked adequately like “normal” toilets, did not smell and were clean and sanitary, they used foam instead of water to flush. Early impressions from our audience suggested that this in itself might be disquieting for our visitors. The toilets needed instructional signage to explain to visitors how to use them and to explain why they looked different from “regular” toilets. Early impressions also indicated that visitors might be uncomfortable with the idea of grey water, and with the idea of collecting and storing rainwater, for fear of West Nile Virus.
Deciding to include information that related to the zoo’s mission of wildlife conservation, developers were curious to find new and inventive ways to share this serious issue. Signs that were both informative and humorous would be placed in the restroom. It was a bold step: making what could have been just a restroom into an exhibit about waste and water conservation.
Interpreting a Green Restroom
To explain the toilets, forward our mission and put visitors at ease, this green architecture is integrated with interpretive materials. Through a partnership with NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), a series of signs were created describing how to use the new toilets (flush with foam before and after) and going beyond that to interpret the building for visitors. The signs detail how the composting toilet works, how the building saves water and why water is important to save and offer tips for how visitors can save water and keep water clean.
There are also fun facts about poop on each stall. The fun facts were taken from The Truth About Poop, a children’s book about the wonders of waste by Susan E. Goodman, with adorable illustrations from Elwood Smith. These facts are all titled “The Power of Poop” and were designed to add lightness to the otherwise serious, definitely unusual and potentially uncomfortable messages that visitors are using a composting toilet and to explain why the composting toilet is good for the environment. Following is an example of one of the facts inside the stalls:
The Power of Poop: It Keeps You Cool
Turkey vultures poop all over their legs—and not because they have lousy aim. The evaporation of their mostly liquid poop keeps them comfy on hot days.
By the sinks, soap, waterless urinals and hand dryers, there are signs that interpret the rest of the restroom—explaining how the water from hand washing goes into the garden to water the plants. Playful wording was used when discussing these topics:
- Water from this sink will be a plant’s drink!
- This water will go down the sink to the grey water garden outside.
There were also facts about water conservation by the sinks that were paired with ways visitors can save water, such as turning off the tap while they brush their teeth:
The Water Supply Is Limited. . .
No “new” water is ever created. (In fact, this water may contain molecules of water used by dinosaurs!) The existing supply keeps recirculating, which is why we must conserve it.
You Can Save Water
Keep water in the fridge instead of running the tap for cold water. Over two gallons of water flow from the tap in just one minute!
There was even a sign that gave a recipe for an eco-friendly drain cleaner, made out of vinegar and baking soda, that visitors could use instead of Drano or other toxic cleansers.
The “Environmental Abacus”
Through front-end evaluation, we asked our visitors what steps they took at home to conserve resources and what steps they’d be willing to take. Results from this evaluation helped us determine the kinds of messages visitors would be comfortable getting in this restroom. We found that the simple act of reflecting on what they did at home, paired with suggestions of what they could be doing, caused our visitors to reach new levels of awareness about personal environmental responsibility and stimulated conversation amongst their group.
Evaluators and exhibit developers realized the benefit of just having visitors think about these steps they could be taking and proposed a permanent, interactive device that visitors could use to reflect on what they do at home to conserve resources. This device is like a sturdy abacus that asks, “What do you do at home?” and lists a number of activities in a column on the left. Visitors are able to slide a ball to options: “Do it all the time, do it sometimes, don’t do it, thinking about doing it.” The activities listed ranged from easy, such as taking shorter showers, to more challenging, such as collecting rainwater for reuse.
After choosing what they do for each of these, visitors can turn a flip at the end of the device and see how their choices compare to those of the majority of Bronx Zoo visitors (information gathered from the results of the front-end evaluation). Visitors will be able to get new ideas for conservation and be able to test themselves, reflect on what they do at home and also compare themselves to others. Research has indicated that this is one way to motivate conservation action. If the rest of zoo visitors are taking shorter showers, it might motivate a visitor who never thought about it to use less water, too.
The Outcome
Each toilet in the Bronx Zoo eco-restroom uses 99 percent less water than a conventional toilet. A conventional urinal uses two gallons of water––our urinals use none. Water and energy are being conserved with the creation of this restroom.
The summative evaluation done so far shows that visitors enjoyed the eco-restroom and were not uncomfortable with the composting toilets. They were amazed at how clean the restroom was, indicating that the toilets were working the way they should be working.
Visitors thought that the signage was for both kids and adults. One of the reservations before creating this exhibit was that cartoon-like illustration would be inappropriate for an adult audience. Summative evaluation debunked this preconception. Cartoons appeal to both children and adults and succeeded in making the signs attractive and adding an element of whimsy to otherwise serious content.
In the planning phase, there was resistance to broad messages about water and energy conservation included in the restroom. There was a feeling that we are a place about animals and we should focus on wildlife, not other conservation issues. Evaluation has shown that not only was it acceptable to give broader conservation messages and information about ways visitors could save the environment, it was expected. Visitors thought that it was the zoo’s responsibility to talk about broader environmental issues and not just animals. Many felt that this gives a “holistic” picture of environmental conservation. Other comments included that we practice what we preach, that it was fun and that providing the public with conservation messages made them feel appreciative and hopeful. Visitors used words such as “forward-thinking” and “progressive” to describe the restroom.
This evaluation shows that non-exhibit spaces, such as these restrooms, can be an appropriate place to forward the mission of an institution. The success of the eco-restroom opens the door to using other public spaces throughout the zoo as venues for conservation messaging, such as the cafeteria.
Conclusion
Overall, this restroom has been a great success in getting important conservation messages to visitors in a fun way. The restroom, which could have been just toilets with signs that explain how to flush with foam, has become an amazing space that gives fun facts about water conservation, touts the steps the Bronx Zoo is taking to conserve water and energy and gives visitors easy ways they, too, can conserve. Presented with these heavy conservation messages with playful illustrations and interesting facts about poop, visitors were receptive and enjoyed the experience in the restroom.
The eco-restroom project tested the imaginations of our staff by challenging the idea that exhibit space is the only appropriate place to reach out to visitors. We realized that, while exhibits are definitely an important part of how we communicate with visitors, our message must reach beyond these confines. Staff were forced to re-envision every space in our facility as a potential place for sharing important stories that inspire hope and change within our visitors. Sometimes these “unusual” spaces are just as good (if not better) places to share our message with the public.
The lesson learned here is that taking large risks while being true to your mission can pay off for your institution. What could have been uncomfortable or preachy, or produced mere toilets, was transformed into something meaningful and fun: a restroom that celebrates environmental conservation and practices what it preaches.
Jessica Bicknell is exhibit developer, exhibits and graphic arts department, and Sonal Bhatt is assistant director of interpretive programs at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo, New York.
