Cardiff Airport gets greener

75% of waste at the UK airport is now being recycled thanks to efforts by the airport and partner company MITIE to improve the carbon footprint of Wales’ national airport.

In January 2011, 0.72 tonnes of card and paper were recycled, the equivalent of approximately 12 trees.

The production of recycled fibre pulp saves between 40-70% of energy in comparison to virgin fibre pulp. Recycling 1 tonne of waste paper saves 4,000 kilowatt hours of energy and 380 gallons of oil. The airport therefore saved around 2,880 kilowatt hours of energy in one month – the same amount of energy would provide enough electricity for 262 families for one day.

Up to 30,000 litres of water is used when one tonne of paper is produced from virgin pulp, therefore the 0.72 tonnes of card and paper recycled at the airport in a month has saved 21,600 litres of water – approximately the same amount as 30 families would use in a day.

Cardiff Airport and MITIE’s recycling efforts have also prevented a total of 11,534 tonnes of waste being dumped in landfill sites.  A tonne of paper uses up to three cubic metres of space in landfill sites, therefore the waste recycled at the airport would have used over 34,602 cubic metres of space had it been dumped.

Jason Coleman, operations manager for MITIE at Cardiff Airport said: “These results demonstrate that through introducing a few changes and by encouraging passengers and staff to recycle waste you really can make a difference, and the results are astonishing."

"The team here at the airport are passionate towards the work to reduce the airport’s carbon emissions, and our aim is to increase the percentage of total recycled waste to an even higher figure in 2011.”

Ian Dolan, terminal services team leader at Cardiff Airport added: “This initiative is part of our Environmental Management Scheme which is committed to monitoring the different environmental impacts of our business. This includes energy management, water usage and noise monitoring among other elements, as well as reducing and recycling the waste the airport generates.”
The airport, along with its service partners, is committed to decreasing the environmental impact of the business and we continuously review and monitor our environmental performance in line with legislation and our environmental policy.”

Airports all around the world are getting more sustainable, for instance:

Bristol airport: www.bristolairport.co.uk/about-us/how-we-do-business/environment.aspx
Manchester airport: www.sustainableaviation.co.uk/pages/news/manchester-airports-environmental-commitment.html
Clean Airports: www.cleanairports.com/

Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite. Special Offer on Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide CLICK HERE Special Offer on Sustainable Tourism Ministers Briefing CLICK HERE