ZooShare’s most recent offering statement is sold out and we are not currently offering bonds for sale. You can click here to join the wait list to be the first to be notified of new bond sales.
No, ZooShare does not divert any food from food banks or any charitable programmes. We only use inedible food waste to generate renewable power.
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.
• 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.
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.