Over 50-ton plastic were collected for recycling by SVPI airport
Ahmedabad, 13 March 2023: Joining with the nation’s mission to reduce the environmental impact, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport collected over 50-ton plastic in the last year, added 16 Electric vehicles, and will soon start an additional EV charging station for airside operations. SVPI airport is witnessing an increase in passenger traffic numbers with every passing day. In February, the highest passenger traffic was 37960 in one day, with an average of 249 flight movements every day. In addition, the passenger traffic and relatives coming to drop off and pick up are also increasing with the increasing demand for air travel. However, to ensure the waste generated at the airport is recycled and managed to ensure minimum environmental impact, 50 tons of plastic waste was collected. With the help of a dedicated segregation plant, the accumulated waste was sent out for processing and recycling. Furthermore, in continuous efforts, a new machine being installed on the premises to make manure using over 15 tons of food waste gathered and disposed of at the city airport.
Currently, several water requirements are supported using recycling techniques like gardens using treated water for plants and an In-house nursery with advanced technology to ensure water conservation to grow saplings using state-of-the-art technology—currently, the airport houses over 5,000 decorative shrubs and 10,000 flowering plants in the outdoor areas. The indoors of Terminal – 1 and 2 have been uplifted with over 400 decorative planters and 2,500 plus indoor plants, enhancing the indoor microclimate. It is not only a matter of green spread, shrubs, and trees at SVPIA but also a global approach to ensure sustainable practices at all levels, including the implementation of environmental standards and controls, green infrastructures, minimizing noise pollution, adopting sustainable best practices, developing fuel efficiency, employing a resource conservation policy dealing with energy and water, and systematic recycling.
Continuing the journey to contribute to the environment, recently, the city airport replaced traditional fuel vehicles with the latest electric cars for operations and administrative use. Furthermore, supporting airport operators’ goals to reduce fossil fuel use, several stakeholders have also started introducing electric vehicles and various innovative energy conservation methods at the airside.
Along with contributing to better environmental practices, the city airport continues its efforts to spread awareness among stakeholders and passengers regularly. The airport illumination was also enhanced by replacing traditional lights with LED lights. The airport has installed 4000 LEDs (in terms of percentage, it is 95%), which is one of the most efficient ways of energy conservation. This step has resulted in energy savings equivalent to 80 times the per capita Energy consumption of Gujarat and is also equal to the average energy consumption of 33 households. The conversion of LED at the airport has also led to reductions in CO2 emissions, equivalent to CO2 emitted by 1154 passengers and six flights having round trips from Ahmedabad to New Delhi. This initiative also resulted in a reduction of CO2 emissions equivalent to carbon sequestrated by 5280 trees.
Apart from the above-taken initiatives, SVPIA also has rooftop solar panels, which generate about 5500 KWH of average energy generation per day. In other words, out of overall energy consumption, 8% of energy generation is from renewable sources like solar energy.
