The airport has invested in EcoCassette technology from waste firm Shanks to compact waste materials produced on-site.

Under the contract, Shanks will replace the airport’s existing waste containers with smart drum compactors, each of which can hold the equivalent of 15 large mobile bins.

The compactors are swipe card operated to enable shared access and come fitted with GPRS enabled sensors to monitor fill rates.

Meawhile the airport’s refuse truck will be replaced with a modern crane-mounted vehicle which can collect four compactors per visit, each with a different source-segregated waste stream.

The increase in the number of waste streams per visit, coupled with the fact that only full compactors are collected, will mean that airport collections are reduced by up to 75%.

Shanks has already installed 700 of the underground compactors in Amsterdam. Glasgow Airport will be the first customer in the UK to deploy this technology.

Maxine Perella

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