Like countless corporations around the world committing to social responsibility, airports are looking for ways to reduce their footprint. Many are taking steps in the right direction—including banning the sale of single-use water bottles and plastic straws, encouraging the use of water refill stations, and more—to chip away at the problem. However, the industry has a long way to go in order to get serious regarding sustainability.
With the size and scope of airports, the process of finding the best solutions partner to optimize waste operations and enhance sustainability is quite the undertaking. However, some may find that by engaging with a third-party team, they can begin to reduce their overall carbon footprint and drive cost savings, especially those on a smaller scale.
I have outlined below key considerations to determine if you can or should optimize your waste and recycling programs.
Is there room for improvement?
The most obvious question may also be the most difficult to answer. Many organizations know that they could be doing more with their programs, yet the underlying reasons may be more challenging to diagnose.
One way to understand where costs may be affected is to review past collection payments from your current provider. Some telltale signs include overpaying for too many pickups, using the wrong size containers, or getting charged for numerous overages.
Some overages may be harder to spot within invoices due to industry jargon. Typical charges to look out for include:
- Dry run: A dry run, also called a trip fee, is when a hauler comes to service your container, and it is either empty or unable to be serviced due to an obstacle blocking the way.
- Extra yardage: These charges typically occur when the container is filled over its capacity. Haulers cannot legally transport a load that weighs more than 10 tons. If your team is seeing continuous extra yardage charges and the container has a lid that will not close due to volume, make sure to break down all recyclables properly, as cardboard boxes are the number one culprit.
- Container swap: Also known as an exchange, this charge occurs when you need to swap out an existing container for a new one. A way to avoid this is ensuring you have the proper sized container based on your waste audit.
Every facility is unique, and a one-size-fits-all waste and recycling program is generally not the right answer. Finding room for improvement within your facility consists of analyzing and understanding what your current waste operations are, and where opportunities lie within those operations to reduce costs and divert materials from the landfill. Those may be hard to find without taking a deep dive, so it would make sense to use a third-party company whose experts can identify and assist with the complexities, some of whom offer their services for only a small associated cost.
What within your current recycling plan is working? What is not?
Typically, waste and recycling are not top of mind until something goes awry, or costs begin to rise. Therefore, it is essential to learn what problems the facility is looking to solve from the beginning. For example, are you concerned that there is too much garbage piling up before your designated removal day? Or, is your concern that the current recycling program is not effectively streaming the proper materials and bettering your bottom line?
Even if you think your dedicated program is efficient enough with handling recyclables, did you know that a single piece of contaminated material can send an entire batch of recyclables to landfills and lead to costly contamination fees? Types of products that contaminate streams may be surprising to some:
- Plastic bags: Thin plastic bags can clog recycling equipment, which can cause significant delays at facilities.
- Food and liquid residue: Recyclables that contain more than 8 percent of food residue should not be recycled. Food and liquid residue commonly includes take-out containers, greasy pizza boxes, bottles, and jars that have not been rinsed.
- Used paper and plastic products: These materials cannot be recycled if they are used. If composting is part of your plan, these can be included in those bins.
- Non-recyclable plastics: Be sure to check with your local facility to see what types of plastics they accept, as many don't take plastics 3-7.
- Disposable cups: Most single-use cups are lined with a polyethylene film, which renders it non-recyclable because of the inability to separate the plastic film from the paper material.
- Plastic straws: Even though airports are beginning to phase them out, plastic straws are not accepted by many facilities due to their size and flexibility, which can get stuck in machinery.
- Broken glass: Broken glass is not only dangerous to your employees but for sorters at any facility.
The root of contamination tends to be single stream recycling, which involves combining all materials (paper, plastic, glass, metals, and cardboard) during the initial recycling process. It also happens to be the most popular method for corporations and residential programs alike. However, because of contamination, inefficient sorting, and consumer error, only 20 percent of recycled materials end up being recycled appropriately with this program. This inefficiency has forced the nation's largest recyclers to close around 21 percent of their single-stream facilities within the last two years.
There are other options, such as the clean stream process (also known as multi-stream recycling), which consists of separating recyclables into different containers right at the location instead of combining everything in one garbage bag or container. While effective, the program is an involved process to build from the ground up. In order for a clean stream program to receive optimum results, it is recommended to bring in a third-party company to assist.
Do you have the right team to devote to optimizing your program?
Successful waste and recycling programs are determined by well-trained employees who are willing to put in the work. That said, it is an involved process to not only train employees on a new program but to have them commit to assisting with the optimization.
From the C-Suite to facilities management, every person on the payroll has a part to play in identifying opportunities for improvement within each department. Luckily, success does not have to rely solely on the hard work of your employees, who are already committed to one job. Third-party resources dedicate themselves to coming in and not only assisting with the initial setup, but can help with processes such as billing mitigations, on-site employee training, receptacle replacement, signage, and more. It is important to get these elements right the first time, primarily since once they are in place, half of the success relies on customers who are moving quickly through the facility each day.
There are endless opportunities for airports to optimize their waste and recycling programs. Implementing a proper program takes time and additional resources. Be sure to keep these key considerations in mind when deciding what is best for your facility and your bottom line.
Graham Rihn is the founder and CEO of RoadRunner Recycling. The company is on a mission to elevate recycling in a world dominated by waste. RoadRunner provides custom recycling and waste solutions engineered to improve waste stream management, serving thousands of commercial businesses from more than 20 industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail, and hospitality.
