Developing an Environmental Action Programme for a Regional Airport

• Sector: Transport & Tourism.
• Name of Partners: Kerry County Council and Kerry Regional Airport.
• Location: Farranfore, Co Kerry.

Aims of this Project:

At the outset of this project regional airports were enjoying increased passenger numbers due to accessible fares and a buoyant economy. Passenger numbers at Kerry Regional Airport were in the order of 400,000 in 2006 which was a significant increase than on previous years and this growth in passengers had a significant impact on the quantity of solid waste arisings as well as increased consumption of energy and water. The aim of the project was to decouple passenger growth from increased environmental impact.

Project Description:

An extensive exercise to gather baseline data for energy, waste and water was undertaken at the outset of the project. As with all busy organisations staff were consumed with daily tasks and monitoring consumption of energy and water as well as waste generation was not top priority. There were also a number of lessees on site operating car hire and catering facilities so an initial task was to assist these organisations with monitoring their waste, energy and water and to ensure that they had separate arrangements in place to pay for their use of these facilities. A detailed energy audit was undertaken by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) which identified the potential to save 25% on energy consumption through a series of low and no cost measures. A similar water conservation programme was undertaken and a three bin system to segregate solid waste was introduced.

Achievements & Lessons:

One of the lessons learnt from this initiative is that the operation of a small regional airport is a complex one and that staff frequently multi-task having responsibility in more than one area. The main priority is passengers and turnaround time on the ground for airlines so any changes to benefit the environment needed to be designed with this in mind. The “busyness” of the airport meant that some tasks to monitor water and energy consumption needed to be undertaken by external staff to ensure they were completed. Some airlines were more receptive than others to preventing and segregating waste to divert it from landfill. Overall 50% of waste was diverted from landfill with significant financial savings. Water conservation measures resulted in a reduction in water consumption of over 2500m³per annum and the potential to save 25% on energy consumption was identified.

Photos from this case study can be viewed in the Photo Gallery.

More Information:
Contact The Waste Prevention Team at rwmo@limerickcoco.ie.