Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Environmental Challenge
Our Proposal
Executive Summary:
In order for Sea-Tac Airport to become one of the leading environmentally friendly airports;
waste management has become a leading goal for the Port of Seattle. Reaching the landfill
diversion objective of 50% has many challenges associated with it such as appeasing
stakeholders while keeping and maintaining a cost effective plan. But with all of this in mind,
our team has created a solution to impose more composting opportunities for passengers by
concessions as well as creating a Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Facility on airport property.
Composting is the most budget friendly solution with the sorting facility being the most effective
way to minimize the amount of trash going to the landfill. All of our ideas have been considered
heavily but we believe that these two outlined solutions will provide the most efficient way to
reach our objective.

Introduction:
In 2009, the Port of Seattle decided that they wanted to be the cleanest, greenest, and most
energy efficient port in North America.
1
Part of this plan was to achieve a 50% landfill diversion
rate on the amount of waste from Sea-Tac Airport by 2014. Fast forward to present time, the Port
is at 30% which is far below the intended goal and the director is looking for answers.
2
This is
where the sophomores at Raisbeck Aviation High School come in. Our team as well as others
have been challenged with the task of finding a solution to help achieve the 50% objective and
are competing with one another for the best solution to implement.

Problem:
Currently, Seattle-International Airport is sending to much waste to the landfill. As of 2013, only
30% of the waste generated is being recycled. This is a problem because the airport needs to
reach a landfill diversion rate of 50% by the end of 2014. With less than a year to go, the airport
needs to find a solution to help them reach their goal or face the consequences of the Airport
Director. With landfills filling up and the amount of waste being generated is rising, Sea-Tac
Airport is trying to do their part in minimizing their footprint on that and its up to our team to
device the most efficient solution possible.




1
"Seeing Green." Environmental. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
<https://www.portseattle.org/Environmental/Pages/default.aspx>.
2
"2013 Progress Report." Port of Seattle. N.p., 2013. Web. 04 May 2014. <http://goo.gl/9RJWjd>.
Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Project Description
Goals and Objectives of Project:
Our objective is to devise a solution to achieve a 50% landfill diversion rate at Sea-Tac
Airport.
Our goal is to not disturb passengers as they make their way in and around Sea-Tac
Airport.
Our goal is to minimize the disturbance on the wildlife and outer communities
surrounding the airport during construction.
Our objective is to meet all the legal requirements listed by state and federal regulations.

Plan of Action:
To fulfill the Ports needs, we have two solutions that can work simultaneously together and are
feasible ideas. Our first solution is to add more composting bins around the airport. Since 44% of
the waste generated can be composted, having more bins available to passengers will help reduce
the amount of compostable materials going into the trash. These bins will be implemented
around food concessions primarily but will also be around the entrances of gates as well as other
areas. Our second solution is to contract CP Manufacturing to build a Municipal Solid Waste
Recycling Facility on airport grounds which will be operated by the airport. Since passengers can
sometimes throw away their trash in the wrong bin, the airport needs to eliminate the amount of
contamination that is the result of human error. This facility will help solve this problem while
also allowing the airport to recover recyclable materials that would otherwise go to the landfill.
This sorting facility will be run by approximately 20+ people and the facility itself will take six
months to a year to build. See Appendix A for management, location, and construction.
Evaluation:
Pros:
For our composting solution, adding bins around the airport is an easy task to implement and
doesnt cost much to put into action. These bins will help give passengers an easy way to throw
away their food scraps and its a convenient for them as theyll be in a place where their easily
accessible. For the trash sorting facility, it will help the airport separate their trash efficiently to
cut down on the amount of recycle that is contaminated and/or the amount of recyclables in the
trash. The facility will also provide more jobs for the community as trained experts will be
needed to operate the machinery. Another big environmental benefit is that the facility will cut
down on the amount of GHE by 2,643 metric tons of Co2 by minimizing the amount of waste
going to the landfill (see Appendix C for more explanation).
Cons:
The only downside to adding more composting bins are passengers throwing away trash in the
bin instead of food scraps and other compostable materials. However, with the new trash sorting
facility, the airport can sort through the compost to remove any items that shouldnt belong there
(See Appendix B, Figure 1 for list of recoverable materials). For the new facility, the con for
building and operating it will be that it will take time for the facility to be built and staff will
need to be trained on how to operate everything. The Port of Seattle will also have to conduct
waste audits biannually on samples of sorted waste. This will tell us how much is being recycled
vs how much is going to the landfill and will give us a clear picture if our solution is working
efficiently.
Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Budget:
Overall, the budget for our solutions are small compared to the advantages that would come from
them. To start, our team has decided to add in approximately 40 composting bins that cost about
$60,000 dollars for all of them ($1500 for each bin according to airport officials). For our trash
sorting facility, the average cost to build it will be around $10,000,000 + $630,000 dollars in
yearly pay for the employees (see Appendix D for more financial recuperation and long term
benefit). This facility is the most expensive part of our plan of action but we see it as a viable
solution to achieve the 50% landfill diversion rate.

Conclusion:
In the Pacific Northwest, the environment is an important part that makes this region so great.
The Port of Seattle is determined to do its part to help keep it that way while also allowing
business to thrive and grow. With the Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Facility and composting
bins, it will help the Port achieve its landfill diversion goal while making sure the passengers at
the airport will not feel disrupted in their daily commute and fulfilling all the legal requirements
that state and federal laws require.


Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Appendix A: Explanation and Rational

Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Facility

Management: Facility will be managed by airport officials

Modeled After:
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has on-sight waste sorting facility that handles
seven million pounds of waste from 23.5 million average yearly passengers.
3


Contractor to Build Facility:
We will contract CP Manufacturing to build a Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Facility. The
specific type of the facility is a Bulk Material Handling System which can sort 100 tons of waste
per hour.
4


Construction Period: 6-12 months

Estimates for Sorted Materials:
- 95% of all recoverable materials such as plastic, organics, glass, metal and etc. will be
sorted out and recycled and/or composted
- 90% of all recoverable paper from the trash will be recycled
- The remaining percentage of will be sent to landfills because we do not expect not
believe that our facility will be 100% efficient.

Reasoning Behind This Idea and the Airport Directors Idea:

Our team believes that this idea is the best solution to achieve the 50% landfill diversion that the
airport wants to accomplish. For one thing, this idea is already being considered by the Airport
Director. His idea is to build a waste sorting facility on airport-owned land within the City of
Sea-Tac. While we see the benefits in that, the residents of Sea-Tac will be opposed of the idea.
With the increase of trash coming through communities to reach the facility, the sight of garbage
trucks and the smell that would come from that would have many people opposed. Also, the city
itself would also be opposed of the new facility because the primary use of it would to be to
handle the waste from the airport, not the waste form the city. Even though the land in the city is
owned by the airport, there would be little to no benefits for Sea-Tac. Along with that, the airport
would need to require a Solid Waste Sorting Permit and submit a report to Department of
Ecology 30 days prior to operating the facility but that also implies to our idea as well. One thing
the directors idea is right about is the environmental benefits. A facility owned by the airport
can sort all the waste generated and can delicate what materials that are approved by the airport
to go the landfill. The facility will be able to cut down on the amount of recyclables going to the
landfill which as an environmental benefit the airport can afford.

With our plan, it will take the directors idea but instead of having the facility in a community,
we will have the facility on airport grounds. That way, waste wont have to travel far from the
airport and can be sorted quickly. Also, the facility wont affect people in the community with it
being on airport grounds while providing the most efficient way to sort waste.

3
Satchell, Arlene. "Recycling Efforts Begin to Take off at South Florida Airports." Sun Sentinel. N.p., 09 Oct. 2013.
Web. 03 May 2014. <http://goo.gl/JFQ5bt>.
4
"Bulk Material Handling Systems." CP Manufacturing. Web. 08 May 2014. <http://goo.gl/FFYtPs>.
Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Appendix B: Waste Stream Data


Figure 1. This pie chart shows different materials found in the Sea-Tac Airport garbage. This data was found from the Cascadia
report for the Sea-Tac Airport.
5

This chart shows the different recyclables and compostable found in the terminal
garbage. The major recoverable materials from the trash are organics, paper, and plastic which
make up 97.6%. This chart will help support our solution of having a Municipal Solid Waste
Recycling Facility. The facility will help remove all of these recoverable materials and reduce
the amount of waste being sent to landfills. As figure 1 shows that the chief recoverable material
is organics at 36.6% with paper and plastic following at 33.2% and 22.4%. According to our
calculations, the trash sorting facility will sort out 90% of all of the recoverable paper from the
trash and the other 10% will be sent to landfills. We do not believe that our Municipal Solid
Waste Recycling Facility will not be a 100% efficient but we believe it will be close to it. The
organics, which makes up 36.6% of the recoverable items, will also be composted. Our
calculations state that 95% of all organics will be composted and only 5% will be sent to landfills
because, again, we cant have 100% efficiency. The plastic will also be 95% recycled along with
the metal and glass which will also be 95% recycled. This data supports our proposal because
our proposal states that 90% of all paper and 95% of all organics, plastic, glass, and metal will be
recycled and/or composted accordingly and this graph shows what material and how much of it
will need to be recycled and/or composted. Other airports such as Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport already have a sorting facility and they are able to sort these recoverable
material out and sort about 7 million pounds of waste every year. If these materials were to be
sorted out, it would have a major impact on the airports waste which is being sent to the
landfills. This would not just be beneficial to this airport, but if this was used by all of the other
airports who do not already have this facility, then the amount of waste produce by the all of the
airports would be reduced, therefore, reducing the total waste produced by the country.


5
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Terminal Waste Characterization Study. Sea-Tac: Cascadia, Dec. 2012. PDf.
Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Appendix C: Environmental Impacts


Figure 2. It shows GHG emissions from the baseline scenario and the alternate scenario. This data was found from the Cascadia
report and the numbers were calculated by WARM (Waste Reduction Model).
6

This graph shows the GHG emissions from all of the compostable and recyclables found
in the trash which includes paper, plastic, glass, metal, and organics. The major point of this
graph is to show the significant difference between the GHG emissions from the baseline
scenario and the alternative scenario. The major difference maker is the paper which reduces the
GHG emissions by -2,643 MTCO
2
E in the alternative scenario. This graph shows that our
solution is more environmental-friendly than the baseline scenario. As we have said before, the
paper is the chief source of the GHG emissions. It emits approximately -2,643 metric tons of
CO
2
. According to our solution, 90% of the paper will get recycling and 10% will be trashed.
The baseline scenario only reduces the CO
2
emissions by 58 metric tons and our solution reduces
the GHG emissions by 2,643 metric tons of CO
2
. Our proposal states that our main solution is
adding a trash sorting facility by the airport. This data supports our proposal, because it shows
that 90% of the paper will be recycled as the trash sorting facility in our proposal states. Also the
proposal states that 95% of all of the other materials including plastic, glass and etc. will be
recycled and our graph supports that data. The airports goal of 50% recycling by the end of
2014 will be achieved by the facility and another benefit of this sorting facility is jobs. The
facility will require employees to run it and it will create more jobs. Also, as shown by the graph,
the solution will also be very environmentally friendly and achieve the goal at the same time.
The amount of GHG emission by the entire airport and the aircraft is already insanely high and if
3,513 metric tons of CO
2
were to be removed, it would have a great impact on environment.


6
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Terminal Waste Characterization Study. Sea-Tac: Cascadia, Dec. 2012. PDf.
Port of Seattle: Will Smith, Noah Kramer, Sahil Khunt, Hannah Tobin

Appendix D: Economical Benefits


Table 1: This table shows the economic benefits from the implementation of the trash sorting facility by the airport. The data
was calculated by us after given some baseline numbers.
The aim of this table is to show how our facility will be economically beneficial. The
major cost is the cost of the machine itself. It will cost $10,000,000 considering that it will be a
full-scale machine which can sort out almost anything. Ten million dollars may seem like a very
expensive machine, however the benefits that this machine will bring will be also very high as
shown by the table. As shown by Table 1, the savings are $489,150.00 each year which means
that the airport will be profiting from this facility after approximately 20 years. Savings are very
high because of the efficiency of the facility. As shown in Table 1, the recycling and/or
composting rates are the following: 90% for all recoverable paper and 95% for all of the other
recoverable materials. This means that the total waste being sent to landfills will be reduced
immensely. Reduced waste means less money being spent on sending waste to landfills. This
table emphasizes the importance of the facility in our solution. As said in the proposal, this table
shows that the facility will be very economically beneficial. Although it may require
$10,000,000 to begin with, however after 20 years, the airport will begin saving about $500,000
annually and use that money for other issues that the airport is facing. This solution can have a
great effect on the airports goal of reaching 50% recycling rate. The facility will recycle at a rate
of 90%-96% which means that the airports recycling rate will increase from 30% to 70% or
more. This facility is cost effective, very efficient, and profitable. Implementing this facility will
not only be helpful to Sea-Tac Airport; but other airports can take a page from our solution and
see that by implementing our Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Facility, they can increase their
landfill diversion rate too.

Years Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 21
Capital Cost for Machine 10,000,000.00 $ 0 0 0 0 0
Total Solid Waste Tons 0 2,568 2,568 2,568 2,568 2,568
Old Disposal Cost ($200/ton) $0.00 513,600.00 $ 513,600.00 $ 513,600.00 $ 513,600.00 $ 513,600.00 $
New Disposal Cost ($150/ton) $0.00 $24,450.00 $24,450.00 $24,450.00 $24,450.00 $24,450.00
Savings $0.00 $489,150.00 $489,150.00 $489,150.00 $489,150.00 $489,150.00
Net Cash Flow ($10,000,000.00) $489,150.00 $978,300.00 $1,467,450.00 $1,956,600.00 $2,445,750.00
Cumulative Cash Flow ($10,000,000.00) ($9,510,850.00) ($9,021,700.00) ($8,532,550.00) ($8,043,400.00) $272,150.00
Project Trash Sorting Facility
163
New Landfill Waste Tons (90% recycling rate for
paper; 95% recycling/composing rate for other
materials)
0 163 163 163 163