The reality of global warming has begun to dawn on mankind’s conscientiousness. A growing determination to maintain earth’s delicate balance is occurring as people begin to recognize a call to action. European laws, including plans to reduce aviation carbon emissions, are strict and forthcoming. America has only recently joined the revolution.

The United States plants trees on Arbor Day, replaces light bulbs, buys hybrids and recycles. But, when an industry like aviation begins to take responsibility, the impact on the environment can be momentous. The amount of waste alone generated by the industry is chilling.

A two-year study released by the Natural Resources Defense Council reported that U.S. airports generated 425,000 tons of waste — a figure expected to increase nearly 45 percent by 2015; and 75 percent of the 1.3 pounds of trash left behind by passengers could be recycled or composted. So what is the industry doing about the mess?

America is enforcing certain standards, but some airports and tenants are going above and beyond legal requirements to recycle and treat hazardous chemicals. Also, to reduce fuel consumption, American Airlines began the Fuel Smart program and, among other actions, is installing winglets on part of its fleet.

Recycling Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)

SEA personnel and tenants say they are determined to be good environmental stewards. "It’s a cultural ideal in Seattle, everybody is environmentally conscientious in the region and employees actually pushed management to find out what other avenues they could use to recycle," stated Doug Holbrook, manager, utilities and business management for SEA. Holbrook has held this position for five years, but has worked with SEA for 30 years. Since he began working on the SEA’s green program in 2001, recycling has increased 1,000 percent, from 112 tons a year to 1,200 tons a year from cardboard and the like alone.

SEA is reaping an annual savings of nearly $200,000 because its costs to haul garbage are higher than its costs to recycle. Hauling garbage to the dump is $120 for each ton of trash. Recycling costs $20 a ton and money comes back into the airport from the recycling in the same way a Maine resident would receive five cents for recycling a soda can.

Scouring the trash is one method environmentally friendly airports use to discover what can be recycled and to find out who is trashing recyclables. SEA educated its staff and its tenants. For example, the airport now recycles 12 tons of coffee grounds per month. The grounds, once thrown into the trash, are dumped into airport bins and are then picked up and travel about 10 miles from the airport to Cedar Grove’s compost facility. The process doesn’t end there either, SEA buys back some of the composting to use throughout the airport grounds. SEA also began discussions with the airline flight kitchens, encouraging them to send food scraps to the composting.

There are about 8-10 different bins on the ramps (metal, glass, scrap wood, radiator, oil, batteries) for recycling purposes and more than 200 recycling kiosks in the terminals (plastic, aluminum and paper). Tenants can still throw recyclable materials away, but the cost is prohibitive; $5 to toss trash into the garbage compactor versus putting it in the recycling bin for free.

On-site mechanics and maintenance employees worked through the process with the airport and delivered ideas that the airport implemented. "They have a lot to offer, they’re on the energy conservation committees and are really involved," said Holbrook. Concrete, radiator fluid, oils and batteries can all be recycled in hazardous waste materials recycling bins. There are containers for wire, scrap metal, cardboard and other materials. Mechanics put oil into the aircraft every night and now those oil cans become recycled scrap metal.

SEA pursues other opportunities to protect the environment. The airport reduced electrical power by 25 percent by retrofitting lights, elevators and escalators and replacing HVAC systems. They also buy green power through wind turbines. SEA just began a food bank collection program too, where excess food from airport vendors is pulled, put into airport fridges, and picked up daily by the local food bank. Nearly 500 pounds of food are sent each week to the local food banks.

Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI)

BWI is state-owned and operated by Maryland. The state established the requirement that state agencies "…shall develop a recycling plan that reduces by recycling the amount of the solid waste stream generated for disposal by the state government by at least 20 percent or to an amount that is determined practical and economically feasible, but in no case may the amount to be recycled by less than 10 percent." The plan was to be implemented by January 1, 1992. BWI began their recycling program under state mandate, and have since surpassed the required goal by nearly 10 percent while continuing to investigate future measures.

BWI partnered with the Maryland Environmental Service (MES) to further its understanding of recycling opportunities. MES worked with BWI to establish a program and developed a multi-prong approach to BWI’s request. MES now conducts twice-monthly inspections of all trash and recycling containers on the airfield. This includes the materials from the terminals, which are emptied into airfield containers on a daily basis. MES also inspects one trash compactor each week to ensure that what is being dumped into the trash is actual trash. Pictures are taken and MES makes recommendations.

BWI’s recycling program saves the airport almost $15,000 a month by recycling nearly 200 tons of cardboard, plastic and aluminum. The airport parked 33 large recycling containers on the ramps for all tenant use, and another 43 containers in the terminals for travelers and tenants to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum. Through education and continued involvement, such as emphasizing recycling in the monthly airport meeting, BWI has seen an increase in recycling efforts from both tenants and customers since the program’s 1995 inception. "It’s really a team sport," remarked Jonathan Dean, BWI’s spokesman.

According to MES, the success of BWI’s recycling program is due, in no small part, to BAA (the airport’s tenant manger) Allied Waste (the company that picks up the materials and recyclables) and all of BWI’s employees and tenants. There are a lot of moving parts to the program and everyone is working together on a daily basis. MES provides quarterly training to ensure on-going allegiance to the program and the process is working; BWI received the 2005 Outstanding Corporate Leadership Award from Maryland Recyclers Coalition and is saving a bundle of money.

BWI is looking into future possibilities too, including food composting. Initial meetings with a local composter have already occurred and BWI could expand its current program to include landscaping and food and wood waste, which could make an additional 10 – 15 percent difference in the amount of recycling product. BWI would like to begin implementing these additional steps by this spring.

Treating Chemicals Dane County Regional Airport (DCRA)

In the winter months, de-icing aircraft and runways is a safety necessity. Maintenance staff typically sprays aircraft with either a chemical compound called ethylene glycol or one called propylene glycol. These chemicals are flowing into fragile waterways and are becoming a growing concern at public and private airports across the United States.

DCRA is surrounded by marsh area that eventually feeds into Lake Mendota and Madison, Wisconsin’s capitol, sits on a nearby isthmus. The Dane county watershed is extremely important to its citizens; they understand their impact on the Earth and are diligent in their efforts to minimize their negative environmental impacts.

Several years ago, DCRA converted from ethylene glycol to a more environmentally responsible potassium acetate de-icer. Potassium acetate behaves similarly to ethylene glycol and is very predictable and reliable. It has excellent biodegradation qualities and met the requirements of DCRA’s waste water discharge permit. DCRA only uses potassium acetate to de-ice the runway.

Costs for DCRA were high at the time of the changeover, but since then other airports are switching to potassium acetate and the expense has been reduced significantly. The transition to the new chemical went smoothly; storage containers were flushed and the new product was added. Maintenance staff received initial training from the manufacturer regarding the characteristics of the compound, and received some recurrent training. According to DCRA, the process is working very well.

However, most aircraft using DCRA still treat their planes with ethylene glycol. So, in 1992, DCRA pro-actively constructed the first glycol retention pond in the state of Wisconsin. DCRA tenants use an average of 50,000 to 80,000 gallons of glycol-based de-icer each year. DCRA requires tenants to de-ice in a specific location so that all of the runoff from their de-icing operation can be contained in a plastic-lined retention pond. Once in the pond, the chemicals are treated and monitored before being released. The chemical typically takes 20 days to break down naturally and once broken down, is released into a drainage ditch. If the retention pond does not reach acceptable limits, the airport pumps out the pond through the sewer system into the city of Madison where the chemicals can be treated. DCRA also samples ground water every six months, looking for contamination and glycol content in four testing wells.

DCRA plans to expand its west ramp next year and as part of that expansion project, the ramp and its associated wastewater collection system will be designed to capture all of the aircraft and ramp area de-icing fluids. This will increase the amount of wastewater collected. The airport is currently studying a variety of options that would minimize the wastewater and should have a few choices identified within a year. Monies for future projects will come from the airports capital improvement program.

In June 2006, the airport dedicated its terminal building after doubling it in size. The 278,000-square-foot terminal incorporates 25 green building strategies including water efficient landscaping, recycled carpet, acoustic ceiling tiles manufactured from recycled soda bottles and more. Recycled materials were used throughout the building and construction debris was separated and sorted, resulting in 40,000 tons of recycled materials. Also, a building automation system dims lights and modifies heating and cooling, which results in significant energy savings.

Reducing Fuel Consumption American Airlines

Since the release of winglets in 2001, more than 800 sets have been installed on planes around the world and another 1,500 are on order. Winglets are eight-foot vertical extensions of the plane’s wingtips and studies have shown that they can significantly reduce the amount of jet fuel required for lift-off, decrease emissions and reduce fuel consumption overall.

American Airlines has begun installing winglets on 77 of their 737s and 124 winglets on their 757s. The work is being performed at their maintenance and engineering base in Tulsa, Okla. (see related AM story September 2006 page 14). AA expects to save 3.2 — 3.8 percent on fuel consumption, which is dependant on which aircraft and what route taken. The maximum fuel savings generated by the winglet modification is realized during long cruise flights. Shorter flights where a larger percentage of the flight duration involves takeoff, climb, descent and landing, do not realize as much of a fuel savings. American is estimating that it will probably take more than a year before all 201 winglets are installed on both fleets. The saving translates into 100,000 gallons of fuel each year for each 737 and 200,000 gallons of fuel each year on the 757s.

Installation

The vast majority of the 737s already had the holes for the winglets drilled, which allows production to go much faster. But, all of the 757s were manufactured at Boeing and were produced without provisions for winglets. So, the 757s require the same amount of work, which includes reinforcing the wing structure to accommodate the additional wing lift provided by the winglets. The entire winglet modification takes about 16 working days. When the modification is completed, a new upper and lower wing skin panel is installed at the outboard wingtip area. To reinforce the existing upper and lower wing skins, an adapter plug and blended winglet is installed and replaces the factory wingtip and light assembly. Nearly 1,400 pounds of structure, including the winglet, is added to each 757. However, the modification results in almost 14,000 pounds of additional lift.

Other AA Measures

During the past two years, AA began implementing the Fuel Smart program, which has saved millions of gallons of fuel each year and, in 2006, saved American more than $230 million. Initiatives for the program involve: removing mid-galley ovens on the Boeing 767-300 fleet, reducing the aircraft weight by 235 pounds and therefore reducing the amount of fuel need to fly the aircraft; and using high-speed tractors, at some airports, to tow aircraft from the gates to the hangars instead of taxiing. AA’s fuel consumption declined by 22 million gallons in third quarter 2006, which equates to $47.5 million saved in that quarter alone.

FAA regulation 14 CFR 121.645 has been in place for decades and requires a 10 percent enroute fuel reserve. In 2005, AA petitioned the FAA to reduce the 10 percent requirement to five percent. This reduction in reserve dramatically lightens the aircraft thereby conserving quite a bit of fuel. The FAA required, among other issues, state-of-the-art technology and, as part of their evaluation, several years of fuel usage data and engine burn rates. AA complied with very stringent procedures and reporting requirements and received the FAA reduction through the issuance of an operational approval. Several other major air carriers were also issued operational approval, but AA was the first to request it. All carriers had to meet the same requirements as AA for the issuance, and continual use of, this operational approval.

Society is beginning to accept responsibility for its pollution and has begun to take preventative measures. Aviation is working toward a similar goal. There are many domestic airports and airlines throughout the country that are working to keep the Earth green. The aviation industry is taking its first steps by controlling emissions, treating chemicals, recycling and reducing fuel consumption, but there is still much work to do. There is a great opportunity for the United States to become a leader in this environmental revolution and industry could be its poster child.