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Continue to add no-touch water bottle refill stations across our facilities . These refill stations minimize the purchase of on-site single serve refreshments , which ultimately add to our waste stream
Evaluate Pilot Composting Options
Many airports compost organic material to reduce the tons of MSW that is landfilled or otherwise disposed of . Organic material creates methane , a GHG , when left to decompose in a landfill . It is also dense , and its weight adds significant cost to our MSW stream for which we currently pay $ 60 –$ 63 / ton to remove . On-site composting is difficult for airports given the desire to reduce wildlife attractants to our facilities and runways . As a result , airports that compost typically have their organic material sent to third-party , industrial composting facilities .
When discussing composting , there is also a distinction between what is known as pre-consumer organic material and post-consumer material . Think of a prepared salad where the prep kitchen ends up with odds and ends of various vegetables . Currently , this material ( pre-consumer organics ) is tossed in the trash . When our customer enjoys her salad , whatever food is left over is considered post-consumer organic waste , which is also thrown into the trash , often with napkins , plastic utensils , and plastic serving containers of some sort . As a result , pre-consumer organic material collection at a limited number of prep kitchens is much simpler to manage than post-consumer collection which would require multiple bins throughout our food courts , significant customer education on what can be composted , and higher rates of contamination .
Conversations with our waste hauling partners in early 2020 indicated the Authority ’ s composting options are limited as well as expensive — as much as 10 times the cost of municipal solid waste . In addition to cost , the simple lack of space in our food and beverage concessions is another limitation that would need to be addressed . As noted above , our concessionaires currently do not have room for recycling bins , so adding a third bin to the mix would be difficult . We are just beginning to study this issue as part of our sustainability planning and while we believe the investment required for wide-scale composting may not currently meet our cost-benefit parameters , we will continue to gather data to make a more definitive decision . We may find that a small pilot with our commercial food prep kitchens , for example , is worth the smaller investment of time and money to accurately determine the potential volume of organic material we can remove from our waste stream and if composting on a larger scale in the future is realistic or not .
Dulles International Airport Master Planning Process
In addition to our renewed efforts on sustainability planning , the Authority is currently involved in the development of our new Master Plan for Dulles International . Per FAA guidance , airport master plans require “ a plan for recycling and minimizing the generation of airport solid waste , consistent with applicable State and local recycling laws ." 38 These plans need to include how we currently dispose of MSW , construction and demolition waste , organic waste , and domestic deplaned waste , as well as our plans for the future . As a result , many of the initiatives discussed in this section on Sustainable Waste Management lay the foundation for updates to our long-range waste management plans that will be
38 See FAA , “ Memorandum : Guidance on Airport Recycling , Reuse , and Waste Reduction Plans .” Accessed June 10 ,
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