{"id":31383,"date":"2019-06-28T15:59:29","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T13:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/?p=31383"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:23:12","slug":"recycling-targets-at-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ferrovial.com\/blog\/en\/2019\/06\/recycling-targets-at-airports\/","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018recycling\u2019 a word that applies to airports?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recycling has become an increasingly popular concept in our daily lives<\/strong>. We are surrounded by news items, ideas, laws and initiatives that make us more aware of the importance of recycling in a 7.7 billion-human-world<\/a>, where resources are scarce and the environment is fragile.<\/p>\n

But what about recycling at airports?<\/strong> Everyone is rushing to get through the security checkpoint, find boarding passes, kids running around, the phone ringing\u2026 so what do we do with our plastics<\/strong>? Most of them are simply discarded before going through security.<\/p>\n

There were 4343 million passengers in 2018, almost double the figure in 2008 of 2489 million travellers<\/a>. Do we have an impact as passengers? Let\u2019s get into the numbers!<\/p>\n

The figures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Each person in this world generates an average of 1.2 kg (2.5 lbs) of waste per day. A day has 24 hours, and a passenger spends an average of 133 minutes (slightly over 2 hours) in an airport, from arrival until the aircraft doors are closed<\/a>. So how much waste do you think a passenger produces on average in such a short amount of time?<\/p>\n

Heathrow Airport in London<\/strong>, the busiest in terms of passengers in the UK and Europe and 7th in the World<\/a>, generates around 110,000 tonnes of waste a year<\/strong>, including that from construction and demolition<\/a>. With over 80 million passengers travelling through the hub in 2018, this meant that each passenger generated 1.4 kg (3 lbs) of waste, more than the daily average per person, in just 2 hours average.\u00a0However, the airport recycled 47.7%<\/strong> of its waste in 2018 and managed to reduce waste by 1000 tonnes thanks to aircraft cabin waste entering the airport\u2019s streams and removal of liquid from plastic bottles.<\/p>\n

Beijing Capital International Airport<\/strong><\/a>, the busiest in China and 2nd<\/sup> in the world, generates an average of 28,000 tons of waste each year<\/strong>. With almost 101 million passengers in 2018, Beijing Airport generated 0.28 kg (0.61 lbs) of waste per person with 80% ending up in landfill or incinerators. This meant that\u00a0more than 22,000 tonnes never served a further purpose to society<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

San Francisco International Airport (SFO)<\/strong><\/a>, 25th<\/sup> busiest in the world with almost 58 million passengers<\/strong> in 2018, reported\u00a014,000 tonnes of operational waste<\/strong> material were sent to landfill last year. However, SFO\u00b4s goal as part of the airport\u00b4s strategic plan, is \u201cto become the world\u2019s first zero waste Airport by 2021<\/em>\u201d. So how can this target be achieved?<\/p>\n

What they can do<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Flight attendants, politicians, airport directors and airline managers, among others, make a long list of flying industry<\/strong> staff who have a great impact on how the recycling process is executed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You may be asking yourself \u2018how can a bartender improve the 3R (reduce-reuse-recycle) process if they are simply doing what they are told to do?\u2019. The truth is that there are a\u00a0small number of actions<\/strong> that often slip unperceived but that can make a big difference<\/strong> if we are willing to make the extra effort. What if bartenders save the plastic cup that they offer passengers together with the drink? What if they politely ask passengers to reuse their plastic cup?<\/p>\n

At a higher-level, airport policy makers are moving fast to set recycling goals within their facilities<\/strong>. Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport in the USA has set a 90% recycling goal<\/strong> as part of its Zero Goal policy signed in 2017<\/a>, although a time frame hasn\u00b4t been set to achieve it. London Heathrow<\/strong> Airport, however, is moving very fast in this process and has set a 70% recycling target for 2020.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

How do airports plan to achieve these targets?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pretty much every airport nowadays has a recycling policy in place that sets a recycling target with a deadline, and a number of measures to achieve it<\/strong>. For example, in the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) encourages and promotes addressing issues related to solid waste recycling at US airports.<\/p>\n

Measures go from restricting the use of polystyrene (Styrofoam) plastic, minimizing packaging, setting food recovery programs, setting a minimum recycling target for tenants and in general any contractor as per their contract, etc.<\/p>\n

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport<\/a> for instance proposes the following measures to reduce the more than 7,000 tonnes<\/strong> of trash they generate each year:<\/p>\n