MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL – Starting today, in recognition of Earth Day, people traveling through Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) will have the opportunity to learn about how food and other organic waste generated at the airport becomes compost material and how the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is integrating electric vehicles into its everyday work activities.
In 2009, the MAC began researching how food waste generated at MSP’s restaurants might be composted rather than being thrown into the solid waste stream. In 2010, with participation from three HMS Host establishments, the airport launched a pilot program at Terminal 1-Lindbergh. Today, 24 restaurants and coffee shops in the Airport Mall and on the A, B, C, D and E concourses participate in a program to turn food scraps into fertile soil, helping to divert more than 10 tons of food waste every month from the airport’s waste stream.
A short video posted to MSP Airport’s YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/shopsatmsp) describes the process and the program’s growth over the past two years. As part of the airport’s Earth Day display, this same video can be viewed today through Monday in the Airport Mall. An abbreviated version can also be viewed on all CNN Airport Network monitors at both MSP terminals.
Electric vehicles the MAC uses at the airport will also be on display in both terminals. Featured in Terminal 1-Lindbergh is the 2011 Transit Connect vehicle. The MAC was among the first in the nation to acquire one of these road-ready all-electric Transit Connect vehicles, thanks to Azure Dynamics Corp’s Lead Customer Program and a $20,000 grant from Xcel Energy. The vehicle produces 75 percent less carbon dioxide than full-size gas pickups, emits no tailpipe pollution, costs less than $500 a year to power, and can travel up to 80 miles between charges.
On display in Terminal 2-Humphrey is a 2010, EVX1000 GreenTruck manufactured by Vantage Vehicle International, Inc. The $21,000 utility vehicle has a 35-horsepower motor that runs on six 12-volt batteries. The EVX1000 operates at speeds up to 25 miles per hour and can travel up to 40 miles between charges. The MAC estimates that a similarly equipped and used gas-powered vehicle would consume some 883 gallons of gasoline each year. Using the EVX1000 instead reduces carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 17,130 pounds, an amount that would take 52 mature trees to absorb.
Both the food waste recycling and electric vehicle programs are part of the MAC’s Stewards of Tomorrow’s Airport Resources (STAR) program, aimed at making MSP financially, environmentally, socially and operationally sustainable for the long term. The program focuses on energy conservation, green buildings, air quality, water quality and conservation, waste management and recycling, natural resources management, noise abatement, and prudent financial decision making.
“The goal is to incorporate our commitment to operating sustainable airports into all our decision making,” said Jeff Hamiel, executive director of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, the public corporation that owns and operates MSP International and six general aviation airports in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. “We’re demonstrating that being a good steward of natural resources makes sense financially as well as environmentally.”
The MAC’s STAR program involves many other sustainable activities as well. For more information, visit http://www.mspairport.com/about-msp/sustainability.aspx.
