I had a weird epiphany of sorts in the John Wayne airport in California this morning.
After purchasing orange juice in a plastic bottle at the McDonalds I looked in vain for a recycling container. I wandered from Gate 14 to the food court (gate 7?). No recycling containers... None obvious at McDonalds, None obvious at Starbucks. (the places putting the plastic bottles into the waste stream.)
I finally stopped and asked a janitor who smiled a gentle apologetic smile and motioned to the trash bin. I gave up and tossed them in.
Ironically I walked past several large advertisements for the "Nature Conservancy", the "Toyota Prius" boasting 50 mpg and another environmentally focussed advertisement. Makes me wonder if the environmental awareness or ethos of California is highly geographical, or if it as skin deep as much of the marketing and entertainment from CA. Maybe some of the professed "Californian progressive environmental message is greenwash. Sorry California (and John Wayne in particular) I'm sure you're doing better in other areas, but not being able to recycle paper or plastic/glass bottles at an airport in 2010 seems like a rather obvious "oversight".
In the words of John Wayne, “Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.”
So John Wayne Airport, I dare ya to fix it and post a photo! If you are sorting all the waste from those big garbage cans for recycling, I'm happy to update this post to reflect that, but highly recommend you also update your trash can labeling.
[UPDATE: Thanks for the update "John Wayne Airport"! (see their comment below) it seems that John Wayne IS in fact recycling, but is doing it offsite by sorting their waste! In many ways this "hidden" approach is even BETTER than visible because it catches items that folks at the airport would mistakenly discard in the trash. Now this seems to fit better with John Wayne's Environmental policy and practice statement on their website. As promised here is my update. Thanks for the quick response. (I'm impressed)]
Cheers,
Greg.
Dear Greg,
ReplyDeleteThis comment is in response to your post regarding ‘no detectable recycling at John Wayne Airport’. I would like to assure you we do recycle, although it is indeed difficult for passengers to detect.
The Airport currently recycles nearly half of the refuse from the Riley Terminal and supporting facilities. This waste is segregated offsite by the Airport’s waste disposal contractor. Waste that is generated on-board commercial aircraft is disposed of at the Airport and is treated in the same fashion. In addition, the Airport recycles all used fuels, oils and solvents.
JWA is in the midst of an Airport Improvement Program, which consists of the construction of new Terminal C, a new Parking Structure, and many new customer amenities. As part of this program, we will be implementing a new recycling program that allows for the segregation of trash and recyclables at the point of disposal (in the Riley Terminal). In addition, the Airport has also completed an overhaul of our existing central trash collection facilities to make them more efficient and compatible with recycling efforts.
On a related note, we are recycling at least 90% of all construction waste, including all of the concrete from the demolition of Parking Structure B1- a five story concrete parking structure!
John Wayne Airport is committed to being an environmentally responsible facility long before it was fashionable. From noise abatement to water quality, the Airport has been an active participant and leader in best environmental practices since the Thomas F. Riley Terminal opened in 1990. For more about the Airport’s environmental policies and procedures, you can visit our online fact sheet here: http://ocair.com/newsandfacts/environmental.html
I hope this addresses your concerns and that you continue to enjoy utilizing John Wayne Airport in the future.
Sincerely,
Danielle Katz
Public Affairs Specialist
John Wayne Airport
http://www.ocair.com
improvements (at) ocair dot com