For my At the Airport column in USATODAY.com this month I offered a fun round-up of items being recycled by airports and airlines in an effort to be help save the earth and, in some cases, to save some serious money.

You can read the full column, For airports and airlines, creative recyling  brings cost savings, on the USA TODAY website but  briefly, the list I included ranges from airports that recycle, reuse or re-purpose everything from old metal detectors, used de-icing fluid and concrete from old runways to creative partnerships between airports or airlines and local non-profits and green businesses. 

Two examples:

Jacksonville International Airport is working with the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens on a project to turn tree clippings into food. The zoo needs a reliable year-round source of fresh “browse,” the natural vegetation eaten by many of the zoo’s large mammals. The grounds around the airport are full of browse-worthy trees and shrubs that could do with some regular clipping.  So browse harvested at the airport in the morning now becomes dinner for giraffe, elephants and great apes at the zoo;

And old seat covers from Delta and re-branded Northwest airplanes that could have ended up in a landfill somewhere were instead donated to Tierra Ideas, a small North Carolina company that is recycling the bags as messenger bags, laptop cases and other travel accessories with patterns that will very familiar to frequent fliers on those airlines.

A Delta spokesperson says so far Delta has donated about 5,873 pounds of fabric from an estimated 20,000 seat covers. “…Enough fabric to cover 92 of Delta’s 767-300ER aircraft.”

And – here’s something that didn’t fit in the column: On May 17th, Purdue University Airport, in West Lafayette, IN will be recyling this 737 aircraft.

“Shredding it,” is the term Betty Stansbury of Purdue University uses:

The aircraft is a 41 year old Boeing 737-200 donated to the University by United Airlines fifteen years ago for research and training purposes in Purdue’s  Aviation Technology Program. 

“The plane has reached the end of its useful life, and will be shredded starting on Monday May 17th. ….We use a large cutting device, called a shearer, to chew the plane into smaller pieces, which are placed in metal containers for transportation, melting and recycling.”

While researching a story about recycling efforts by airlines and airports, I came across Worn Again, a London company that made a line of small bags and jackets out of a decommissioned Virgin hot air balloon (you can order items in any color, as long as its red).

Worn Again also makes a variety of accessories out of decommissioned Eurostar uniforms. And while everything in the on-line store is very eco and desirable, everything is beyond the $10 limit we set for Souvenir Sunday.

Except this: a mobile phone holder made from decommissioned Eurostar staff cardigan uniforms.

Looks more like a lost sock to me; but I applaud the concept.

Have you found a great souvenir while Stuck at the Airport? If it’s $10 or under, “of” the city or region and, ideally a bit offbeat, please snap a photo, jot down some notes and send them along. You souvenir may be featured on a future edition of Souvenir Sunday.  And if you find a great local food at an airport, take a photo of that too.  We’re thinking of making Snack Saturday a permanent feature.

First up:  an exhibit featuring  artwork by Dorothy Rissman made from trash she found on city streets, construction sites and beaches.

Dorothy Rissman - Snack Pack Dress

Dorothy Rissman - Reflector ball

Next: an introduction to the airport’s six pair of shiny new, computer-monitored trash compactors, set out for use by airlines.

(courtesy Sea-Tac Airport)

Sea-Tac Airport is incredibly enthusiastic about reducing waste and has won awards for the amount of trash it recycles and the wide range of things it recycles. For example, unsold food goes to food banks; spent cooking grease becomes bio-diesel fuel; and organic waste – including tons of coffee grounds, of course – gets composted.

Now the airport is turning its eco-eye on all the garbage that arrives on airplanes.

Instead of letting each airline take care of its own garbage, the airport bought a dozen computer-monitored giant compactors (six for trash; six for garbage) so that it can coordinate and monitor airplane trash.   Airlines that separate magazines, newspapers, soda cans and other recyclable items can get rid of that stuff for free.  And if they do a good job of helping the airport keep trash out of the landfills, airlines can get credit to help lower their annual bill.

Happy Earth Day!

Colored bins marked glass, paper and trash are lined up in most gate areas.

Used cooking oil from many food courts is transformed into fuel.

And at airports in Seattle and Portland, composted coffee grounds become part of the landscaping.

Now the Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) has come up with a creative way to recycle yard waste and help animals.

The airport has teamed up with the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens to provide tree clippings and shrubbery, called browse, [word of the day!] for the zoo’s animals.

Turns out that the airport grounds are an ideal source of the natural vegetation eaten by mammals such as giraffe, elephant, okapi and great apes.  The airport was having a hard time finding enough local ‘browse’ for its hungry critters, and the airport had plenty to spare.

Now, airport officials say, visitors to the giraffe and elephant exhibits, especially, will get to see the animals eating the browse collected that morning from airport property.

Nice!

The promotion runs from today (Mon. 11/16/09) through Friday (11/20/09) and the way to win is to get caught in the act of recycling something by one of the airport’s Environmental Services team members who will be combing the main Jeppesen Terminal and the three concourses looking for passengers who are recycling.

Gannon Torrella got “caught” early on by Janell Barrilleaux and Jerry William and won a book of TCBY coupons.

What else can you win if you get caught recycling at Denver International Airport? 16 restaurants, including Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; Boulder Beer Tap House; Burger King; Caribou Coffee;Lefty’s Mile High Grille, Colorado Trails Grille; the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and others are participating.

Good luck!

My home airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), in fact, just won an award for the recycling efforts of the airport’s concessions, which recycle, re-use and compost everything from cardboard to coffee grounds and donate enough food to area food banks to feed more than 8,000 families a year.

Now, just in time for America Recycles Day this Sunday, November 15^th, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is rolling out a new recycling program that will be effortless to use and will reduce the amount of trash the airport sends to landfills by 50 percent by the end of the program’s first year — and by 70 percent by the end of the second year.

How does it work?  Simple:  Just put your recyclable materials and anything else you have to throw away in one of the containers marked with a GreenSortATL logo. They’ll do the rest: under the new program, all waste generated by passengers, employees and businesses goes into the same container and is taken to a facility, where it is sorted and recycled.

Great idea!

The folks at Kansas City International Airport (MCI) are already celebrating. Today they’ll be handing out discount coupons from The Paradies Shops and HMS Host airport concessions to reward customers “caught” recycling in the designated bins in the terminals.

Some airlines are getting into recycling as well. According ot the Delta Air Lines blog, since January Delta’s In-Flight Recycling program has collected more than 500,000 pounds of plastics, paper and aluminum.  The program operates on flights into ABQ, ATL, BWI, ORD, CVG, CLE, DEN, RSW, FLL, LAX, MIA, JFK, LGA, PDX, RDU, SMF, SLC, SFO, SEA, TPA and DCA and this past September, airline employees used proceeds from the program to help construct a home Habitat for Humanity Home

This story about snow-recycling from the Telegraph is sort of like that: A new airport being built in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido will collect winter snow, keep it insulated and on ice, and then use the old snow to chill the liquid used in the airport’s cooling system during the hot summer months.

Government officials predict the project will save 2,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

I predict giant summer snowball fights.

If they looked like the duds Nancy Judd makes, you just might.

Judd is an environmental artist who makes award-winning fashion out of the stuff most of us throw away. And from now through the end of the year you can see her custom-designed recycled garments in the Recycle Runway exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)

Here are a few samples:

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd) This outfit is made of old phone book pages woven together and made into a skirt and vest. Woven directories also cover the cowgirl boots and hat.

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd)

For this outfit, plastic detergent bottles were cut into circles and hand-sewn onto a vintage bathing suit and shoes.

Already wildly popular in Portland, the Laurelwood Public House and Brewery has just opened a second airport branch. This one is on Concourse E. The menu includes Oregon-brewed organic beers and dishes prepared with beef, chicken, pork and produce from local farmers.

It’s a good fit for PDX, which is already known as one of the most environmentally-friendly airports. In addition to an aggressive recycling program, the airport turns used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel and converts table scraps and coffee grounds into compost.