Naples Airport Earns Statewide Recycling Champion Award for Sustainable Aviation Leadership
Naples Airport has been named a Recycling Champion by the Florida Recycling Partnership Foundation, recognizing the airport’s leadership in advancing sustainable aviation practices through alternative fuels and fleet electrification.
The award honors the Naples Airport Authority (NAA) and its Fixed-Base Operator, Naples Aviation, for initiatives that significantly reduce waste, emissions and environmental impact while strengthening long-term operational resiliency. The Florida Recycling Partnership Foundation is a coalition of businesses and associations focused on improving recycling rates and expanding sustainability programs across the state.
Among the programs highlighted was Naples Airport’s Transformative Fuel Initiative, which promotes the adoption of cleaner aviation fuels. The airport offers Unleaded Aviation Gasoline (UL 94) as a cleaner-burning alternative to traditional AvGas, as well as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), a lower-carbon fuel derived from non-petroleum sources. Naples Aviation was the first FBO on the U.S. East Coast to regularly offer SAF, and today more than 20 percent of fuel sales at the airport are alternative fuels.
The Foundation also recognized the airport’s Fleet Electrification Initiative, which is transitioning ground support equipment and vehicles from gasoline and diesel to electric power. The program includes electric aircraft tugs, electric ground power units, and electric vehicles and carts used by maintenance and operations teams. Together, these efforts are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering noise levels and improving air quality across airport operations.
Airport leadership emphasized that sustainability has been a long-term priority, driven by a commitment to environmental stewardship and community responsibility rather than awards recognition. The initiatives are designed to empower tenants, modernize airport operations and demonstrate how general aviation airports can lead on sustainability.
The Recycling Champion Award follows additional statewide recognition earlier this year, when Naples Airport received the 2025 Benjamin J. Siwinski Sustainability Award from the Florida Airports Council, further underscoring the airport’s role as a leader in environmentally responsible aviation infrastructure.
Naples Airport serves as a key transportation and emergency response hub for Collier County, supporting private and corporate aviation, public safety operations and disaster recovery efforts. The airport operates without local tax dollars and is funded primarily through aviation-related revenues, while continuing to balance aviation needs with community quality-of-life considerations.