London Stansted checks the halls for trowels and brollies!
- Airport-wide ‘waste amnesty’ delivers nine tonnes ahead of record Christmas getaway
A week-long ‘waste amnesty’ at London Stansted has collected over nine tonnes of unwanted and discarded items as the airport undertook a major spruce-up ahead of its busiest ever festive season when more than one million passengers are anticipated to pass through its doors.
The clean-up not only improves the passenger experience at the airport, it also supports preparations for the next phase of building works on the £600 million transformation project that will start early next year.
Organised by Stansted’s Facilities Management team and supported by the airport’s waste management specialists, Mitie and Grundons, companies and colleagues from across the campus were invited to do their bit to keep the airport tidy and clear redundant and abandoned materials from right across the site.
All nine tonnes of the waste will now be recycled or disposed of in a way which avoids it going to landfill.
Within the waste collected was:
- 10 TV screens
- Six fridges
- Toasters, computers, fans, heaters, radios, photocopying machines
- Light tubes, glass, chairs, pushchairs, plastic, umbrellas
- Building tools, including trowels, clothing and drills
- Three tonnes of metal
- Two tonnes of wood
- A mattress!
I’m delighted with the response to our ‘waste amnesty’ from the 12,000 colleagues and 200 businesses across the airport and it has enabled us to not only remove over nine tonnes of rubbish in a sustainable and responsible way but importantly create a smarter, more tidy and efficient Stansted as we head into our busiest ever festive period.
At London Stansted we divert all our waste away from landfill and recycle more than 75 per cent of it and here on site we are running what is effectively a small town so it’s really important we do all we can to manage our environmental impacts.
We already have a host of initiatives at the airport to help maintain and improve how we deal with the waste generated by our operation, including our award-winning scheme to donate food and toiletries surrendered at security to local foodbanks, but the amnesty week gave us a unique opportunity to do even more.
