A “Green Team” has been established with participants from the Wichita Airport Authority, TSA, food and beverage concessionaire and each of the airlines, in order to work together to maximize collections in the most efficient manner.

In the first six weeks of operation, more than 15,000 lbs. of paper, 1600 lbs. of corrugated cardboard, and more than 1000 lbs. of plastic have been collected.

According to E.P.A.:

Paper

Each ton of recycled paper saves:

• 17, 35-foot trees, which could make 11,500 pages of 20-pound 8.5” x 11” paper

• 380 gallons of oil, which is equivalent to 2 barrels of oil, or enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles

• 3.1 cubic yards of landfill space (9 cubic yards if it were cardboard instead)

• 4,077 kilowatts of energy, or enough to heat and air condition an average American home for six months

• 6,953 gallons of water, which is equivalent to one person drinking eight 8-ounces glasses of water every day for a little more than 38 years

Plastic

Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours.

Nearly 1.8 tons of oil are saved for every ton of recycled polythene produced. Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space, and recycling a single pound of PET plastic bottles (used for soda and water bottles) saves about 12,000 BTU's of heat energy.

Recycling is not new to the airport. Tons of concrete and asphalt are recycled from construction projects. In addition, used oil, tires, batteries, aluminum and steel are recycled. Tree debris is also chipped for mulch instead of being taken to the landfill.

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