The Portland Airport has 10,000 employees, 17 passenger airlines, 14 cargo carriers and over one million passengers "zipping through it each year," writes Tanya Baker in the Association of Oregon Recyclers (AOR) newsletter. Following a decision to emphasize waste reduction as part of its environmental management system, in 2002 the Airport conducted waste audits. Data showed that 35 percent of the food waste stream that was landfilled could be composted, and half of that amount was preconsumer waste from food vendors. The Port received a $35,000 grant from Portland Metro to help pay for equipment and partnered with Community Environmental Services at Portland State University to conduct the pilot.

Writes Baker: "The program was kicked off in early 2003, one of the first of its kind in the U.S. And the results thus far have been favorable. Very little contamination has been found in the food waste stream. The items diverted for composting include vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and filters, baked goods, uncontaminated paper towels and napkins, waxed cardboard and other compostable paper. Compostable waste is taken to a specially designated 20 yard drop box with sealed doors along the top and steps up to an elevated platform that runs the length of the box. The food waste box is picked up twice a week and hauled to Nature's Needs in North Plains for processing. Thus far, the Port has purchased seven tons of composted material from Nature's Needs and used it in medians and landscaping applications around the airport."

Project managers hope to interest the hotels and restaurants that line Airport Way in diverting their food residuals and are also exploring expansion into postconsumer collection