Authorizing the Committee on the Environment to hold public hearings to examine Philadelphia International Airport's recycling policies and goals, and to explore alternative approaches to increasing the Airport's recycling rate of both public and internal waste.

WHEREAS, With over 9.9 million passengers originating from Philadelphia International Airport in 2006, approximately 1500 tons of public waste and 5800 tons of tenant waste was generated; and

WHEREAS, Currently, the Airport’s internal recycling efforts, which are limited to office paper, newspaper and cardboard and ballasts reduce the waste stream by 15 percent; and

WHERAS, While the Airport is in the process of implementing a public area recycling program, they only anticipate a 10 percent reduction in waste from that effort; and

WHERAS, Airport recycling has been embraced by many airports around the country and world. Many of these airports have adopted aggressive and creative policies for both internal and public recycling of materials ranging from plastic bottles to cooking oil; and

WHERAS, The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), which is currently ranked the 17th busiest passenger airport in the United States, has seen its recycling rate increase by 900 percent between 2001 and 2005. By recycling items such as coffee grounds, mixed paper, and beverage containers, Sea-Tac provides recycling opportunities in the terminals, retail stores, maintenance buildings, and airport offices, as well as food concessions, taxi stands, and garages; and

WHEREAS, Recycling bins in terminals can be designed to attract the attention of passengers, which in turn increases recycling rates. When Sea-Tac expanded their program to include redesigned bins with eye-catching signage their recycling tonnage increased by 40 percent. Recycling bins are also available with advertising space to help offset recycling program costs; and

WHEREAS, By adopting a comprehensive recycling program, Philadelphia International Airport can seriously reduce the amount of waste generated in all areas – terminals, tenant spaces, airport offices, maintenance buildings and transportation areas. This reduction benefits the airport in diverted disposal costs and improves their image of being an environmentally conscious airport; and

WHEREAS, Other airports have relied on management support and recycling consultants to implement comprehensive recycling programs. Once the recycling program is in place, ongoing training and education of employees, tenants, and maintenance staff is critical to the program’s success; and

WHEREAS, Given Philadelphia International Airport’s commitment to environmental stewardship, it is time for them to adopt a recycling program that is all-inclusive to the various areas of the airport and that’s aggressive in the materials deemed recyclable; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED,

BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That City Council’s Committee on the Environment is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to examine Philadelphia International Airport’s recycling policies and goals, and to explore alternative approaches to increasing the Airport’s recycling rate of both public and internal waste.

End

James F. Kenney