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17 CHAPTER 3 â AIRPORTS AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY The circular economy (CE) model parallels a process of nature, also known as biomimicry, where all waste is used as a resource for the future continual development of nature. The CE also takes into consideration energy preservation or energy optimization, where energy is expended to maintain vitality or invested in capturing future energy. The CE model also incorporates reuse, refurbishment and remanufacturing of materials; and the faster they can be returned to use, the higher the potential savings on the shares of material, labor, energy, and capital embedded in the product and on externalities such as GHG emissions, water or toxicity (The Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2018). Conversely, the linear economy (LE) focuses on various phases of product creation, from idea to the market with little to no recapture. These phases include extraction, processing, assembly, transport, usage, energy, and disposal. CE focuses on the handling and reuse of components that otherwise would have been destined to landfill, incineration, or other forms of unproductive or non-economically beneficial disposal. Ultimately, the aim is for an optimum economic resource efficiency model designing waste out of the business systems. As the CE becomes adopted in supply and collection chains, the advantages for the aviation industry would be reduced costs and increased environmental benefit. 3.1 Opportunity for Airports The economic benefit of having a CE over todayâs current âtake-make-disposeâ LE will reduce scarcity, volatility, and pricing of materials and the disruption of the economyâs future manufacturing base (The Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2018). Airports can integrate and leverage their sites to incorporate a CE model. This model can be carried out by embedding collection and recycling infrastructure to capture materials at airports. Airports can then return them to the global, national, or local economies. Recapturing materials in an airport setting may face some challenges, but it has been demonstrated in several markets. Gaps do still exist in the recovery of NCRM in the aviation industry, and the potential of extracting more material is possible given its closed and controlled ecosystem. The CE model could also be applied to airports where the continuous flow of known materials from flight operations could be cataloged and recovered. 3.2 Recycling Disruption On July 18, 2017, China filed a petition to the World Trade Organization (WTO) requesting a halt to the acceptance of 24 categories of solid waste. Historically, China imported and recycled these categories and used them as raw materials for new products. As of January 2018, however, the now-closed China border has left materials to be stockpiled. Waste companies are now forced to store materials from collections. Citing lack of storage room, waste companies have applied to regulators to landfill these materials. Given the historic processing of recyclable materials in Asia, US infrastructure and processing abilities have lagged. The closure of the border in China has disrupted current recovery practices but may also promote the development of new material recovery facilities within the US. The EU is still targeting a ban on single-use plastics. France, for example, is slated to penalize companies who make new materials using virgin plastic versus from recyclable sources. This penalty may increase the costs of goods made of non-recycled plastic. The goal is to increase the use of recycled plastic nationwide by 2025 (Phys.Org 2018).
18 Volatile raw material prices do affect collection strategies and subsequent profitability, which typically yield an increase in landfilling. As markets fluctuate, waste collection firms find that, given their existing collection infrastructure, recycling is not profitable. Even before the ban, recycling was in crisis due to low profits of recovering recyclables within the collection chain. A 2016 article in the New York Times, stated, "recycling is in a crisis; it used to be that all players in the recycling ecosystem were able to make a profitâ (Gellesfeb 2016). 3.3 Recovery of Waste at Airports Some airports have used waste to provide energy to their facilities instead of collecting and diverting. Airports, such as Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom, are utilizing waste-to-energy WTE. WTE facilities can ensure the meeting of policy requirements while ensuring the safeguarded of flora and fauna when processing QW. WTE can also be carried out on-site and can demonstrate carbon and cost savings through the reduction of transportation for off-site handling. Pyrolysis has also shown promise for the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from waste. While not a focus of this research, numerous waste items have been shown to deliver subject fuel with enhanced benefits for the aviation industry. The process can also use biomass, including lignocellulose inputs. (Graham et al. 2011). Many firms are reviewing this process and partnerships between Fulcrum Energy, for example, along with United Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Waste Management could potentially utilize QW as a feedstock (Fulcrum Bioenergy 2018). Similar to pyrolysis and waste-to-energy, gasification is a thermal process which utilizes heat to break down matter from waste. Unlike waste-to-energy, however, but like pyrolysis, gasification produces hydrocarbons and a mix of gases which ultimately depend on the production of gases on the input variables of waste. The production gases, or syngas, can also be used to power different power plants. 3.4 Public Support of Sustainability Initiatives In one study, 70.4% of airline passengers were willing to pay more than $20 to offset the carbon emissions generated during their journey (Jou and Chen 2015). With the Business for Social Responsibility organization stating that 93% of global consumers wanting to see social or environmental issues addressed, there could be more room for advanced NCRM recovery programs funded through creative economic driven platforms.
