Waste produced through airport office management, aircraft cleaning, infrastructure maintenance and commercial and catering activity are largely in line with that produced in general urban areas and are broken down into:
- Municipal solid waste and similar from cleaning and waste collection activities in air terminals, auxiliary buildings and aircraft. This waste is collected in dumpsters and bins, appropriately distributed across the airport and disposed of by companies appointed by the relevant regional administrations. Municipal solid waste concerns the dry portion and the separated portions.
- Hazardous special waste (waste oil, oily emulsions, oil and diesel filters, sanitary waste, etc.) and non-hazardous waste (ferrous scrap metal, expired drugs, alkaline batteries, etc.) from SEA maintenance activities.
- Waste from meals consumed by passengers on board aircraft; They are managed, and disposed of, directly by the catering companies and not handled by the airport manager.
Linate - Waste produced by type (tons)
(*) In 2018, the new procedure to manage aircraft waste waters was activated, leading to an increase in the production of non-hazardous special waste.
Source: SEA
Malpensa - Waste produced by type (tons)
Source: SEA
The total production of waste, in 2018, was equal to 2,806 tons at Linate and 6,214 tons at Malpensa.
Total waste production (tons)
Source: SEA
Again in 2018, SEA confirmed its commitment to the separated collection of municipal urban waste at the Linate and Malpensa airports. Currently, separated collection is implemented for: paper, cardboard, wood, glass, plastic, metal, toner, organic waste and batteries at the areas of the airport open to the public. Separate waste collection was equal to 62.9% at Linate and 34.6% at Malpensa, including the separate collection of special waste, registering a total increase of approximately 10% in both airports compared to 2017.
% Separated collection
| 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malpensa | 34.6 | 31.7 | 31.2 |
| Linate | 62.9 | 57.4 | 53.6 |
Source: SEA
All special waste produced is separated by type, with specific contracts with companies authorized for the management of such (for example: IT equipment, oils, emulsions, irons, paints, etc.). It is therefore entirely separated by type and disposed of, recycled according to the applicable regulations and the technological standards of the treatment plant to which it is conferred.
The dry residual portion of urban waste produced at both airports is disposed of in energy recovery thermal-destruction plant; the separated portion of waste is however allocated to specific recovery and recycling plant (disposal collection and transport or recovery by the Municipality).
Special waste is predominantly transferred, depending on its specific characteristics, to recovery plants. In case of waste with unsuitable properties (e.g. sewage purging), the waste is transferred to final disposal plants for collection, transport and disposal or recovery by specialized or authorized companies.
19 2016 data refers to SEA.