PROFILE
“ MY JOB IS to drive and monitor the airport ’ s progress toward its publicly stated aim of becoming the UK ’ s most sustainable airport and one of the greenest in the world ,” declares Rachel Thompson , Sustainability Manager at London Gatwick .
No mean task – airports are notorious consumers of resources and are regularly in the public eye regarding issues such as noise and air pollution . It is also no secret that Gatwick is at loggerheads with the UK Government and rival Heathrow in what has become a long-running second runway saga .
However , second runway or not , Thompson is in charge of ensuring current and future operations meet the highest sustainable standards , set out in 10 key principles to achieve by 2020 .
A CATEGORY 1 CONUNDRUM One of these targets revolves around waste . “ Gatwick currently generates around 10,500 tonnes of waste each year ,” says Thompson . “ Approximately 20 percent of this is Category 1 waste and the new plant can process around 10 tonnes of it a day .”
Thompson is referring to a new waste management system that has been installed by DHL Supply Chain , able to convert waste from on-flight food and packaging into energy . “ 100 percent of the energy goes back into the facility ,” she continues , “ with 60-70 percent used to dry the waste for the next day and the remaining heating the site . Designs are also currently being drawn
10 June 2017