Birmingham Airport's Commitment to Sustainability
Published on Friday, 07 June 2019
This week
Birmingham Airport actively participated in this year’s celebration of World
Environment Day, giving the Airport the opportunity to again raise awareness
and promote actions that everyone can carry out to protect the environment.
Birmingham
Airport organised an action-packed itinerary for World Environment Day, which
was well received and attended by the Birmingham Airport community. Employees
were invited and welcomed to visit the Sustainability Team who were on hand to
inform and educate Birmingham Airport staff about their roles in reducing the
impact on the environment and outlined the ways in which Birmingham Airport
will achieve this. As part of this engagement the team launched its new
video showcasing the activities and mitigation that the Airport is involved in
to offset its environmental impacts.
The video
portrays all elements of the Sustainability Team roles these include:
Link to Birmingham Airport Environmental video HERE: https://youtu.be/k1N6kp5kdkg
Energy and
Climate change
Carbon
Management is fundamental to environmental operations, and Birmingham Airport
takes a proactive approach to reducing emissions and improving environmental
performance. Birmingham Airport undertakes comprehensive monitoring of the
energy usage across site and works with onsite partners to reduce carbon
emissions through a variety of initiatives.
Aircraft
Noise Management
Managing the
noise impact of aircraft operations on our neighbouring communities is of the
greatest importance to Birmingham Airport. In order to do this the Airport operates
a comprehensive Noise and Tracking-keeping (NTK) system. The NTK system records
the track flown by all aircraft at the Airport and integrates this with noise
data captured from monitoring terminals in the community. This allows us to
engage with our airline partners to ensure that aircraft are operated in the
quietest and most fuel-efficient manner.
Air
Quality Monitoring
Birmingham
Airport measures, monitors and reports on ambient air quality levels through a
dedicated Air Quality Monitoring Station located on the airfield. This Air
Quality Monitoring Station provides continuous on-site monitoring of
Particulate Matter (PM10), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2),
Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ozone (O3). All of the data recorded is freely
available to the public on the Air Quality England website.
Surface
Water Quality
Birmingham
Airport has a commitment to the maintenance and improvement of the surface
water drainage systems to ensure that we protect and where possible enhance the
local watercourses that run through the site. Birmingham Airport ensures that
the water is protected from any pollution associated with its activities and
has a 24 hour flood and pollution control system to further protect the
watercourses.
Minimising
waste and recycling
Active steps
are taken to ensure that the amount of waste produced at the Airport is reduced
to a minimum and that waste is recycled where possible. To help achieve this,
waste is dealt with through Birmingham Airports own Integrated Waste Management
Centre, with in house initiatives implemented to encourage staff to segregate
correctly and actively participate in recycling schemes. A plastic reduction
policy and strategy is also in place aimed to reduce the amount of plastic used
onsite.
Kirstin
Kane, Head of Sustainability of Birmingham Airport said: “We have a very
focused Sustainability Team here at Birmingham Airport and are clear on our
responsibility to protect the environment. Our Sustainability team’s
mission is to ensure that our services and operations, where they have an
impact on the local, regional and global environment, are minimised.
“It
was great to see many people from the airport community meet and engage with
our team and learn about our ongoing environmental plans to mitigate the
Airport’s impact on the environment. This includes how we reduce the carbon
footprint, minimise single use plastics, keep our watercourses clean, manage
noise pollution and improve our recycling efforts.
“On
a site that supports jobs for 8000 people, we want to inform them of the work
we’re doing to reduce our impact and to show them ways to live more sustainably
- both at work and at home - to make a cleaner and safer environment.”
To
view how Birmingham Airport’s Sustainability Team works both on-site and with
the local community please click here.