Unfortunately ZooShare bonds are not RRSP/TFSA eligible and there are no plans to offer this going forward.
Yes: you must pay tax on the interest income accrued, regardless of when it is received (in the event of a delayed distribution). Interest income is reported as it is accrued by you on a T5 slip, “Statement of Investment Income” each February and should be included on your annual tax filing. A copy is also sent directly to the CRA and can be accessed via the CRA MyAccount site. If you are the primary owner of the bond (the first or only name listed on the bond) you will need to pay all taxes owing on the earnings each year. If the bond is owned jointly both names will be included on the tax slip, please refer to the CRA rules on joint income before filing your return or consult a tax professional. If you purchased a bond as a gift on behalf of a related minor (including children, nieces/nephews and grandchildren) according to CRA rules the income is attributable to you and the tax slip will be issued in your name / SIN. If the child turns 18 before the bond matures please contact Gareth (gareth@zooshare.ca) to have the bond transferred into their name as the primary bondholder after which time the income will be paid & attributable to them. If you have any questions about your tax filing please contact a tax professional as we are not able to offer tax advice.
No, ZooShare does not divert any food from food banks or any charitable programmes. We only use inedible food waste to generate renewable power.
Most investors will be paid via direct deposit, unless they have requested to receive a cheque. Please note there is a $10 fee for issuing a cheque to offset the administration cost, postage and banking fees. It may also take longer to receive a cheque instead of direct deposit.
If you have changed your banking information please securely update your information using this form.
Accrued Interest Payment for bonds purchased prior to December 2020: Investors who purchased a bond prior to December 2020 would have received their first accrued interest payment in January or early February 2021. This includes all interest accrued from the time of their bond’s purchase up until Dec/31/2020. Please check your bank statements during this period for payment(s) from “ZooShare Biogas Coop INV”.
Please contact Gareth at gareth@zooshare.ca or call 647-704-6078 for additional details specific to your investment.
ZooShare is offering public tours of the biogas plant each summer and throughout the fall/spring to school and community groups. Click the link to see available dates and to register.
You can also take a virtual tour of the ZooShare biogas project. The virtual tour enables viewers to see how our unique site functions and hear comments from our partners. Click here to check it out.
You can also see the biogas plant in-person from a safe distance by walking the trail next to the Rouge Valley Conservation Centre (AKA Pearse House) at 1749 Meadowvale Road: There are 3 trails in Rouge National Urban Park, ranging from 1.5km to 3.5km, but the best view of the biogas plant is just a couple of minutes from the trail head. Please note that the biogas plant is an industrial site and members of the public are not allowed except as part of a supervised tour, so please stay on the trail. Click here for directions and parking information.
You can securely update your banking information by clicking here. You will need to upload a scan or photo of a void cheque (or, if you do not have a cheque book, you can download a Direct Deposit Form from your online bank instead and upload that). If you need technical assistance, please email Gareth at gareth@zooshare.ca or call 647-704-6078.
• It diverts waste from landfills
• It recycles a readily available source of energy
• It prevents methane (21x worse than C02) from going into the atmosphere
• It generates electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• It stores its own energy, meaning it can dispatch energy whenever it’s needed
• It eliminates pathogens and odours from organic waste
• It returns valuable nutrients to the soil in the form of a rich fertilizer
ZooShare generates revenue in 2 ways:
1) ZooShare is producing power for the Ontario grid: we have a 20-year contract with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) that ensures we will be paid a fixed rate of $0.17 per kilowatt-hour that we produce.
2) ZooShare will be paid to accept and process organic waste (known as “tipping fees”) and 3)
Finally, in the near future, ZooShare will likely sell fertilizer, a final by-product of the anaerobic digestion process.
The ZooShare biogas plant has a capacity of 500kW and generates up to 4.1 million kilowatt-hours for the Ontario grid each year, that’s enough to power about 250 homes!
No, ZooShare is a non-profit co-operative separate from the Toronto Zoo. The Zoo holds a permanent position on our Board.
No problem, please contact Gareth, our Community Investment Coordinator via email gareth@zooshare.ca. You can also call us at 647-704-6078.
ZooShare bonds are subject to a number of risks common to start-up ventures in general, as well as specific risks associated with electrical generation and anaerobic digestion.
The primary risk is Operating Risk – that as a result of mechanical breakdown or a lack of suitable feedstock, the plant could not make the biogas/power/revenues that ZooShare projected. That being said, all of the equipment is insured, and ZooShare has business interruption insurance. Regarding feedstock, ZooShare has secured contracts from multiple waste management companies to supply the material that’s needed. Given the plant’s favourable location close to where significant volumes of organic waste is produced, and being the only facility in the City of Toronto that can accept commercial organic waste, there is little risk that sufficient feedstock will be available during the life of the project.
For a complete list of risks, please see page 22 of our 2021 Offering Statement.
The ZooShare plant was financed through the sale of Community Bonds, a local investment opportunity that allows members of the public to support a project that benefits the environment and earn a return on their investment.
Each year, ZooShare’s biogas plant diverts 15K tonnes of inedible local food waste from landfills, reduces C02-equivalent emissions by up to 20K tonnes and generates up to 4.1 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power for the Ontario grid. Upon potential future expansion of the plant, ZooShare could also produce Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).
Over 800 ZooShare members have invested over $7 million through bond purchases to build Canada’s 1st zoo-based biogas plant! We are not currently offering new bonds for sale but you can click here to sign up for the waiting list to be notified in the event that we resume bond sales.
Biogas is the gas created from the breakdown of organic waste. The gas is formed when bacteria eat organic waste and release methane, carbon dioxide and other gases. Instead of letting these greenhouse gases escape into the atmosphere, we capture the gas and store it until it can be used to create energy.
ZooShare Biogas Co-operative was founded in 2011 by Daniel Bida. In 2013, ZooShare received its Feed-In-Tariff Contract and launched its first public bond-offering of $2.2M. In 2015, due to popular demand, ZooShare issued a second and third round of bonds which raised over $1M.
In 2019, ZooShare joined forces with Oshawa PUC Energy Services (OPUCES), a municipally-owned sustainable energy corporation, to complete the final milestone of the Toronto Zoo Biogas Project. ZooShare also received a $2.67M grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada to potentially expand the plant and double its impact.
In December 2020, ZooShare completed construction of the biogas plant and issued a new round of bonds (Series 4 and 5) to redeem and refinance maturing bonds.
In April 2021, ZooShare began to generate and export power to the Ontario grid providing enough renewable energy to power over 250 Ontario homes each year.
Note: No T5s were issued for the 2024 tax year and we will not be issuing T5s until further notice.
T5s are emailed (or mailed) out each February. Please check both your email inbox or your postal mailbox (in the event that you have requested to receive your T5 by mail or we do not have an email address on file). Please look for an message from our general inquiries email address info@zooshare.ca. Unfortunately a few investors have reported the email was in their spam/junk folder so please add the aforementioned address to your contacts to avoid this. The attached PDF document is password-protected and encrypted for your safety. You will have to enter your 9-digit Social Insurance Number (SIN) or Business Number (BN) as the password before you can view it. The password should be in the following format XXXXXXXXX (without spaces). If you can’t find your current or past electronic T5s, or if you have misplaced your T5, you can also access them via your CRA My Account page. If you require further assistance please contact Gareth our Community Investment Coordinator, at gareth@zooshare.ca
You can review our most recent (2021) offering statement here.
You should have received an email containing a bond package and an electronic copy of your bond certificate(s). If you have not yet received your bond package or have misplaced it please contact Gareth (gareth@zooshare.ca) for assistance.