AKRON, Ohio - The Akron Zoo has unveiled a composting machine named "Big Hanna," designed to help the zoo achieve its zero waste goal.

The zoo is the first zoo in the world to implement such a system, which will divert 47 tons of material away from landfills, said Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler at a public unveiling on Monday.

The Ohio EPA awarded the zoo a $160,000 recycling and development grant for the machine, which the zoo will match at $81,000.

Summit ReWorks provided $20,000 toward the sustainably designed building the machine occupies. Keep Akron Beautifully and Let's Grow Akron will purchase compost from the zoo.

The zoo has had an organic waste diversion program since 2011, but was hindered by restrictions on composting primate and big cat stool. With Big Hanna, the zoo will bring its diversion percentage to the high 90s, said zoo President and CEO Doug Piekarz.

Zero waste is one of the zoo's nine major goals Piekarz dubbed BHAG for "big hairy audacious goals."

"When we set these goals we don't know how we're going to achieve them, but we know if we set the creativity of our staff, volunteers and our guests to wild, we will be wildly success in achieving as much or more than the goals we set," he said.

Swedish-made Big Hanna can accept all organic waste -- meat, wood, proteins and animal stool -- which runs through what act like steel stomachs, and produces compost in five-to six weeks. The composter processes about 24 pounds of waste per day.

The building housing Big Hanna features a skylight for natural daylight, and a passive solar wall to help heat the building year-round and reduce carbon emissions.

It also has space to store aluminum cans collected for the zoo's "Cans for Corridors" program. Money from the recycled cans so far has paid for 1,700 trees planted to reforest parts of Brazil.

The zoo's additional green initiatives include:

operating the first solar train in the country, with a 2.7-kilowatt solar array that produces zero emissions

building the first LEED certified building in Summit County and the third in a U.S. zoo. The

achieving LEED Silver certification for the entire campus by building Grizzly Ridge. The largest expansion at the Akron Zoo, the exhibit includes a pool water reclamation system that allows 100 percent of exhibit water to be reused.

Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro, who also chairs the Summit ReWorks board, said her friends and family were amazed at the zoo's sustainability efforts when they attended an event there last year.

"The leadership, the progressive thinking and the collaborations that go on right here at our zoo are something to be very, very proud of," she said.

Attempts to save wildlife and wild places around the world must begin with what can be controlled here in Akron first, Piekarz said.

To that end, a major goal for the zoo and its partners is to encourage other Summit County businesses to launch their own programs to reduce food waste by recycling or composting.

"I want to you to see, loud and clear, the message here," said Summit ReWorks Executive Director Marcie Kress. "The levels of support for these projects are in place; state, local and community leaders are all here and its welcoming for those entities who look for not only financial support but technical support."

Composting also reduces greenhouse gasses, Piekarz said. Landfills use an anaerobic environment - no oxygen - creating methane gas, which is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, he said. Composting uses oxygen, which produces no methane and the product enriches soil naturally.

According to National Resource Defense Council, more than one-third of waste in the U.S. is food waste, representing about $165 billion going into landfills per year.

Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.