Brussels Airport to cut down on waste as high season looms

Brussels Airport to cut down on waste as high season looms
Brussels Airport and 25 said they would work to double the airport's recycling rate by 2023. Credit: © Belga

As it gears up for the high season, Brussels Airport announced that it would implement measures to double its recycling rate and to significantly cut down its overall waste production by 2023, airport officials announced Tuesday.

With around fifteen garbage trucks currently needed to handle the airport's daily waste production, the airport and 25 partner companies signed a Waste Management Charter to mark their commitment to promote better waste disposal and recycling practices among companies and travellers.

The charter aims to put in practice the principles of a circular economy by "[doubling] down on efforts to prevent waste accumulation and increase sorting and recycling by at least 50% by 2023" airport representative Arnaud Feist said.

One of the key measures included in the charter is to reduce the number of plastic water bottles in the airport.

Stands selling reusable water bottles will be placed after the safety controls and new water fountains will also be installed in the airport's halls so as to improve traveller's access to free drinking water.

Additionally, the airport will install sinks before the security checkpoints so that passengers can empty out plastic bottles before disposing of them so that they can be properly recycled.

Audits will be carried out in the airport in order to establish companies' sorting and recycling practices, and passengers will be invited to be more vigilant when disposing of their waste in the airport's halls.

"Most homes have adopted waste sorting and recycling as a regular practice," Patrick Laevers, head of waste management company FostPlus, said. "But once they leave their homes, citizens tend to forget these good habits."

The news comes after the airport on Monday announced that it was entering the high season as of this Friday, marking the start of a busy holiday period, with 2.7 million travellers expected to pass through the airport in the single month of July.

Gabriela Galindo

The Brussels Times


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