SFO On Track To Become Zero-Waste Airport, Seeks To Divert 80% Of Trash By Next Year
SAN FRANCISCO INT'L AIRPORT (KPIX 5) – The San Francisco International airport is shooting for the skies with a goal of dramatically reducing the amount of waste here on the ground.
Along with the Boeing 777's that take people from all over the world to and from the Bay Area, SFO wants to be known for its "triple zeroes."
"We want to be the first airport in the world to achieve carbon neutrality, zero net energy buildings, and zero waste going into landfill," airport spokesperson Doug Yakel told KPIX 5. "Airports are really, a microcosm, of the region they serve. An airport ought to champion the values of their region. For our region, there are a lot of values we're trying to champion, but one of them is really that focus on the environment."
SFO is already on track to become a zero-waste airport, according to Yakel. In recent years, the airport has implemented policies to help reduce waste.
"In 2019, we became the first airport in the world to ban the sale of water in plastic bottles, knowing that at the time, we were selling about 10,000 bottles of water per day," Yakel said. "In any of the restaurants where you buy food at SFO, if you're getting it to go, you'll find it comes in one of these compostable types of packages."
Those programs include plastic-free concessions and the food donation program. Rather than throwing out excess pre-packaged food, airport restaurants can donate it to charities.
"It really goes hand-in-hand with our idea of reducing the amount of waste. If we can find a good use for unsold, pre-packaged food that helps a local charity, that's a win-win for everybody," he said. "It helps ensure that the food that gets produced here actually goes to a useful purpose, rather than simply being thrown away."
Alfred Twu, with the Sierra Club's Zero Waste Committee, said all organizations need to work on eliminating their waste, but thinks the airport is off to a good start.
"In a place that's a gateway to the Bay Area, it's a way for people to learn about what are some of the best practices for waste reduction, and hopefully bring them back to their own communities," Twu told KPIX 5. "It's always best if you can reduce the use of something in the first place. If you already have this object, then find a way to re-use it. Only then, do you fall back to recycling."
SFO currently diverts 65% of it's waste from landfills and has a goal of getting to 80% by 2023.
"We've really been a leader in environmental sustainability for a long time. We had the first LEED Gold certified terminal in the US. The Harvey Milk Terminal – Terminal 1 – just became the first LEED Platinum in the world. We have the world's first zero net-energy building, and we're the airport that is leading in terms of the largest use of sustainable aviation fuel," Yakel said.
While noting the airport's accomplishments, Yakel said there's more work to do.
"We really want to be that airport that's on the leading edge in terms of promoting a healthy planet." he said.
