Aeroporti di Roma increasingly “circular” with the Hera Group
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A protocol has been signed to implement environmental sustainability and circular economy initiatives, reducing waste, recovering resources and optimising the water cycle to reduce sludge and losses
A protocol to jointly assess joint initiatives in favour of sustainability and a circular approach to the management of Fiumicino and Ciampino airports: this is the focus of the protocol signed by us and Aeroporti di Roma - the company that runs both of the capital’s hubs.
The areas of intervention of the agreement, valid for two years, concern the management of waste, the treatment of waste water in the airport purification plant and the optimisation of water network management.
Actions to make the first airport hub in Italy, the seventh in Europe, increasingly sustainable. The hub’s commitment has already been recognised by ACI Europe, which awarded Fiumicino excellence as the best airport in Europe for three consecutive years from 2018 to 2020. In terms of circular economy, “Leonardo da Vinci” airport boasts a separate waste collection that has amounted to 99% and, in the last 10 years, the consumption of drinking water for each passenger assisted has been reduced by approximately 30%, thanks to a dual distribution network system that ensures the reuse of “recycled” water for all uses for which drinking water is not necessary: irrigation, fire prevention, etc.
We will make our experience and commitment available in terms of the circular economy and the recovery of resources that have distinguished it since its inception.
Concrete projects to reduce waste, the production of waste and increase its recovery
As regards waste, the main objective is to define guidelines to improve the recovery and reuse of waste produced at the airport, identifying the best solutions to manage the main types of waste, minimising environmental impacts and optimising economic management. This will be achieved by studying any new operational and management processes to further develop separate collection, also involving staff, suppliers and passengers, recover the waste produced (especially used oils, plastic and organic products), reduce the production of waste that cannot be recovered, adopt systems for the recovery of food surpluses produced by airport catering, thus reducing waste and giving new value to uneaten food.
Reduction of sludge produced in the purification process and water losses
The water system of the airports is also the subject of the agreement, in order to assess the possible optimisations to be made to the purifier in a circular economy perspective, facilitating processes that enable the reduction of sludge produced by the waste water purification process (such as, for example, through the installation of dryers to reduce weight and volume) and assessing the possibility of recovering material. Systems are also being studied to optimise the management of water networks, to prevent and limit losses with a view to increasingly virtuous water management, including with the use of advanced sensors and artificial intelligence systems.
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