Airport recycling rates soar with terminal food waste collection - Wrap

Resource efficiency in facilities management

Airport recycling rates soar with
terminal food waste collection
Stansted Airport Limited worked with catering outlets to fit food waste recycling
collections into their busy schedule, helping to cut costs and meet landfill
diversion targets.

Stansted Airport is the third busiest                  Key facts
passenger airport in London, with around 18                18 million passengers
million people passing through the terminal                Target of 60% recycling by 2015
each year. For on-site caterers, the volume                203 tonnes of food waste
and pace of footfall can be challenging                      generated annually
enough without separating out an extra                     Food waste collection scheme
stream for recycling. However, Stansted                      needed to work around frenetic
developed a straightforward scheme which                     schedules of catering retailers
has achieved a recycling rate of 57 per cent
of total airport waste and shown that space
and time constraints can all be overcome             protected from contamination, which keeps
with a little strategic planning.                    the whole area cleaner and adds value to the
                                                     dry materials sent for recycling.
Environment and Utilities Manager, Kathy
Morrissey, explained: “By 2015, we have set          General recycling
ourselves a target to recycle 60 per cent of         Over a third of the 6,000 tonnes of waste
our waste and send zero waste directly to            produced at Stansted each year is generated
landfill. We have also signed up to a BAA            inside the terminal and 203 tonnes of these
group target of 70 per cent recycling by             are made up of food waste. On-site caterers
2020.                                                and other outlets already received a
                                                     comprehensive recycling service, through
“When it came to implementing food waste             which separated glass, cardboard,
collection, however, there were a number of
drivers. First of all, it's the right thing to do,
and the most effective thing to do with food
waste. Increasing recycling is laid out in our
waste strategy, and under the 2011 Waste
Regulations we have to demonstrate that we
have followed the waste hierarchy. Also, it's
financially worthwhile; recycling is
increasingly more beneficial financially.”
   Kathy Morrissey, Environment and Utilities
                  Manager, Stansted Airport

In addition to the cost and sustainability
benefits, one that is often overlooked is
hygiene. With food waste segregated and
stored in a sealed container in the waste            Stansted Airport faces specific challenges when implementing
collection area, other recyclables are               recycling initiatives

newspapers and magazines as well as dry
recyclables (other clean or uncontaminated
paper, card or plastic) and the remaining
mixed, 'wet' material were sent to a
mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant
for sorting. In 2010, retailers were consulted
on the potential for implementing a
segregated food waste collection.

Consultation
Morrissey describes the consultation stage as
crucial to success: “It's fundamental.           Segregating food waste from dry waste streams increases the
Without consultation the retailers wouldn't      value of recyclables
feel that they had contributed to the
development, but also, we could have             “Using incentives is a tried and tested
introduced a scheme that just didn't work for    method for us which has driven a lot of our
them; they're limited on space, and on time.     success, not just for food waste but for other
If you ask for more segregation, space is a      recycling materials. We collect the high value
challenge, so we have to make sure the           goods, like cardboard, plastic bottles and
scheme works for them, and consultation is       glass, for free and use the cost that we
probably the most important aspect of that.”     charge for general waste to offset the
                                                 recycling. I think it has really helped to drive
Since the bins have been set up, retailers       behaviour change in the terminal.”
buy biodegradable liners, which cover the           Kathy Morrissey, Environment and Utilities
cost of collection, at a cheaper rate than                         Manager, Stansted Airport
they are charged for general waste disposal.
On-site cleaning contractor, ISS Facilities      Financial benefits
Services, collects the bags and delivers them    When it came to assessing the financial
to a compactor in the waste collection area.     benefits of collecting food waste, Stansted
Segregated food waste is then taken off-site     considered the cost of landfill gate fees
to an in-vessel composting system.               against the price of transporting material
                                                 and gate fees to a recycling plant.
Morrissey says the cleaning contractors have
been instrumental in the success of the          With landfill tax set at £56 and due to rise to
scheme: “They have done a huge amount to         £64 in April 2012, coupled with the closure
help drive segregation. They also have a         of Stansted’s local landfill site, recycling was
dedicated recycling team; we give them           increasingly attractive.
information each month on how much of the
terminal waste has been recycled, so they        Morrissey explained: “To recycle materials
know how much they're recycling. If they         like cardboard and plastics is absolutely
don't quite meet the challenge then they         better economically. These days it is
push themselves to do better.”                   generally more expensive to send to landfill
                                                 than it would be to send even to a
Incentives                                       sophisticated recycling plant. That's really
For the airport team, the use of incentives is   become very apparent over the last two
seen as preferable to coercion to ensure         years.
participation.
                                                 “The other factor for us is haulage –
“Retailers have some real barriers to            depending on how far away a site is and
overcome; and at peak times are so busy,         how many trips you have to make in a
they really are strapped for time. If we were    month, that can either increase or reduce
to rely solely on setting mandates, we would     the benefit. The biggest issue is the
then have to have processes in place to          availability of sites in the local area. That has
track participation, so it's much easier from    improved dramatically, but if you don't have
our point of view, and more positive, to         a site within a reasonable distance then you
manage it through pricing.                       end up spending a lot of time on the road
  Kathy Morrissey, Environment and Utilities     with high haulage costs, and that can be
                 Manager, Stansted Airport       make or break.”

Like many organisations which segregate
waste streams, Stansted has an agreement
with its waste contractor, Essex
Reclamation, to receive income from the sale
of materials. The food and general waste are
collected by Grundon Waste Management,
which also manages all the airside waste
streams, while specialist contractors tend to
deal with small level waste streams like
hazardous waste.

Future plans                                                                Separate storage of food waste is more hygienic and secure, and
Looking to the future, the challenge for 2012                               generates cleaner waste streams

is to identify even greater potential for
removing streams from the general waste                                     “Segregating the food has had a major
for recycling. Summing up, Morrissey                                        impact. It adds to an improved culture of
describes the benefits of introducing food                                  recycling, because we can offer a full suite –
waste collection as a no-brainer: “It is                                    I don't think there's any recyclable material
obviously cheaper to compost the food than                                  that we don't take, either for off-site sorting
it is to pay for mixed recycling or pay for                                 or straight to the reprocessor.”
landfill. And I think it's allowed us to clean                                  Kathy Morrissey, Environment and Utilities
up the general waste stream and manage                                                         Manager, Stansted Airport
that better. If you've got a lot of food in the
general waste, so much of the other material
will be contaminated with food; it's just a
mess.

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