A Better DAY

The latest headlines from the Dayton International Airport

General News

How Our Airport Recycles Nearly 75 Tons Each Year

That’s enough to fill 10,500 suitcases!

There’s no better day to talk about recycling than Earth Day and the airport has been working diligently on its recycling and sustainability plans to make this Earth Day their best one yet.

Setting the Goal

Four years ago, the airport moved forward with a bold initiative to introduce a sustainability program that would result in the majority of the airport’s waste stream being recycled. We improved our recycling to 25%, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds of material from ending up in a landfill. And what are the results of all this recycling? When we recycle even just one ton of plastic it saves enough space to fill 140 suitcases.

Room to Improve

The airport called on the experts at Rumpke Recycling to perform an audit of a single day’s worth of waste at the terminal. Rumpke teamed up with University of Dayton and together they determined there was a tremendous opportunity to recycle even more items by offering a way for passengers to dump excess liquid from their cans and bottles before heading through the TSA checkpoint. The airport implemented liquid collection stations based on these findings and now it’s even easier to recycle bottles and cans at the terminal.

Recycling is Just the Beginning

This recycling initiative is just one part of a comprehensive program to make the airport more sustainable than ever. In addition to recycling, the airport has worked to reduce energy consumption, transitioned to earth-friendly cleaning products, and started utilizing green construction practices. Most innovative of all is the Planes and Prairies program, which removes up to 1.9 metric tons of CO2 emissions from the air. This Earth Day, we’re hoping to show that while it’s not always easy being green, it’s definitely worth it for our environment.


To learn more about the airport’s recycling and sustainability initiatives, visit flydayton.com. You can help! While you’re in the terminal, make sure to recycle plastic and glass bottles, aluminum and steel cans, magazines, newspapers, and cardboard.