El Paso Zoo launches Sea Lion Recycling Program

The El Paso Zoo launched the Sea Lion Recycling Program with Partners in Education, Keep El Paso Beautiful and the City of El Paso Environmental Services.

At the El Paso Zoo’s “World of the Sea Lion” Amphitheatre, Sunny the sea lion demonstrated a new part of his daily presentation by tossing a recyclable plastic bottle in the City of El Paso’s blue recycle bin to help educate El Paso Zoo visitors about the need to recycle. Educating the future generations is at the forefront of the zoo’s priorities.

The El Paso Zoo is becoming the place to learn about all aspects of conservation with the soon-to-open El Paso Water Utilities Discovery Education Center that will focus on water conservation and the desert, and the El Paso Electric Renewable Energy Demonstration Project Windows to the Wild Outpost which will feature solar energy and a wind turbine.

Everyday, bottles and trash get tossed in the Rio Grande and some of that ultimately ends up in the ocean, polluting it and affecting wildlife – including Sunny’s sea lion friends. Through this new recycling program, Sunny is teaching kids how recycling in El Paso can have an effect on the ocean, even though it’s hundreds of miles away.

It’s a simple message: Recycling is so Easy - Even a Sea Lion can do it. Just Drop it in the Blue, Sunny!