French airport operator Vinci Airports announced that its subsidiary Aerodom has signed a collaboration agreement with Dominicana Limpia to build a waste recovery center at Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International Airport, the second busiest airport in the country. The plan is to recover and recycle up to 44% of the 360 tons of non-toxic solid wastes the airport generates every month.
As part of a new waste management program, up to 160t of recyclable waste produced by the terminal and offices at Las Americas Airport will be stored by the recovery center for recycling.
The program includes educating airport users, passengers, employees, and subcontractors to change the mentality about waste reduction and separation, says the company. New bins will be placed throughout the airport.
Mónika Infante, director general of Aerodom, explains that the almost 4 million passengers a year and 8,000 employees generate lots of waste. “We are proud to start this important program that will reduce our carbon footprint and enable us to use resources that today end up in the garbage dumps,” she said.
She announced that a Waste Recovery Center would be built in coming months where the waste materials will be recycled. The Center will feature a vertical garden to be designed by Dominicana Limpia, the entity that is responsible for the technical support and operational logistics for the program.
Vinci Airports director for France, Sweden and the Caribbean, Valérie Vesque-Jeancard, came for the signing of the agreement. For Dominicana Limpia, signing was Domingo Contreras, and Johnny Jones, secretary general of the Dominican Municipal League.
Vinci Airports explained that the recycling effort is an integral part of Vinci Airports’ AirPact environment strategy. The company seeks to obtain and maintain Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) for all airports in its network, as well as reduce Vinci Airports’ energy consumption by 20% between now and 2020. A survey will also be carried out on biodiversity issues for all airports. The other goal is to obtain ISO 14 001 environmental management system certification for all its airports.
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Airport Technology
Aerodom
26 March 2019