When officials at the Dayton International Airport (DAY) set a goal of diverting 75 percent of the Airport’s waste from landfills, they turned to a company with experience in their industry. Rumpke drew on experience from recycling at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. In its first month, the DAY recycling program recovered 12 tons of cardboard, in addition to aluminum cans, plastic bottles and other recyclables.

With 2.5 million airline passengers visiting DAY annually, the team knew that capturing waste from this traveling population would be critical to meeting the goal.

Rumpke helped DAY develop a marketing plan to promote their new recycling program using the tagline “It’s a great DAY to recycle!” Existing trash cans were repurposed as billboards and receptacles for recycling.

The cans are bright, clearly labeled, and conveniently located throughout the airport. To keep things simple and maximize the amount of materials diverted from trash, all recyclables can be placed in the same container.

The DAY operations team and Rumpke worked together to gain support from 150 tenants (including several major airlines and food vendors).

“Rumpke is working to make recycling available at home, school, work and even when traveling,” said Rumpke Regional Vice President Mike Bramkamp. “We are looking forward to helping the Airport meet their sustainability goals.”  

The DAY recycling program collects paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and plastic bottles and jugs. The recyclables will be sorted at Rumpke Recycling in Dayton, Ohio. Click here to watch a video about the recycling process.

Recycling is just one part of the Airport’s sustainability program, which also includes energy and water conservation and environmentally preferable purchasing.

Written by Rumpke's Corporate Communications Team.