Airport plastic bottle donation scheme raises funds for charities
Howard Lake | 3 October 2013 | News
Frankfurt Airport is turning the plastic bottles disposed of by passengers at the security checkpoint to good use. It has installed a bottle recycling system in which not only is the plastic sent off for recycling, but the income from the sale of the plastic is donated to charity.
Given aviation security regulations, tens of thousands of bottles, some half-empty, some still full, that have to be handed in at the security checkpoint. In many cases, the recyclable material is lost to landfill.
But passengers in Terminal 1 Departures at Frankfurt can be confident their bottles will be put to good use. The full deposit fee on the plastic containers is donated to WWF, Aviation Without Borders, foodbank charity Frankfurter Tafel, or homelessness charity Franziskustreff.
Veronika Iseler from the Product and Process Development division of Frankfurt Airport’s Terminal Management commented that public feedback on the recycling system has been very positive. She notes however that the facility is used more by German passengers. “This is understandable” she said, “because Germans are more familiar with the deposit system than some of our international visitors. We are trying to attract the attention of our non-German guests by improving the positioning of the facility and by providing signs; as a matter of fact these measures are already bearing fruit.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.