Dive Brief:
- A recycling facility at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, is not meeting expectations set in the two years it has been in service.
- The center has not been generating the expected profit, instead it is hoping to break even; it has also lowered its anticipated diversion rate from 70% to between 30% and 50%.
- One of the touted expectations of the facility was to be converting waste to fertilizer using worms, but officials have yet to secure the necessary permits to begin the program.
Dive Insight:
Officials have acknowledged the issues, but maintain that the airport has been saving money. The center diverted 2,500 tons of waste from the landfill last year, which is roughly 30% of the airport's total.
The company which was awarded the contract, Go Green, admits that it had no previous waste management experience prior to the start of the facility at the airport. A long list of problems have occurred at the recycling center including injury without filing proper paperwork, a maggot infestation and lack of permits.