Airports as Mirrors of Civilization and Emerging Ecological Crisis
Airports are more than just gateways of connectivity; they are mirrors of civilization. They reflect how a nation organizes movement, manages resources, and defines progress. Yet behind the impressive schedules, architectural design, and digital check-ins lies a less glamorous but urgent challenge: waste.
Indonesia’s airports, particularly Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK), now face a critical threshold. The scale of waste generation has reached levels that demand attention beyond routine cleaning contracts. As one recent study observes, “The average daily flight waste at Soekarno-Hatta Airport is ±315 tons and will have an impact on passengers and the environment” (UBS–USG Journal, 2023). That figure—315 tons per day—is more than enough to fill a small landfill every week. In the context of national infrastructure, airports are not only engines of economic mobility but also strategic waste producers that require cross-sectoral governance.
Airport waste is highly heterogeneous. It includes organic residues from flight catering, single-use plastics from lounges, paper and cardboard from retail operations, and hazardous materials from aircraft maintenance and repair facilities (MRO). Under a linear “collect–transport–dispose” system, valuable materials such as PET plastics, cartons, and food waste lose their potential economic and environmental value. Airports, which should represent sustainability leadership, risk instead becoming weak points in Indonesia’s broader green supply chain.
Economic Focus, Environmental Blindness
Airport waste management in Indonesia remains dominated by short-term economic logic. Most operators outsource cleaning and hauling through low-bid contracts, emphasizing visible cleanliness over measurable sustainability outcomes. Performance metrics often ignore critical indicators such as diversion rate—the proportion of waste successfully diverted from final disposal to recycling or composting.
A local study concludes that “Soekarno-Hatta Airport’s waste management performance is also not optimal, with indicators of low recycling rates and high waste generation” (UBS–USG Journal, 2023). The implication is clear: efficiency in cost does not necessarily translate into efficiency in ecology. Treating waste management merely as an operational burden, not an investment, leaves little room for innovation or accountability.
This mindset contributes directly to Indonesia’s wider plastic crisis. According to Marine Pollution Bulletin (2024), Indonesia produces about 7.8 million tons of plastic waste annually, 4.9 million tons of which remain unmanaged—83 percent eventually leaking into marine ecosystems. Airports, as major consumption nodes for packaged goods and catering, feed into this leakage when they lack proper segregation and recovery systems.
The problem becomes even more complex with international catering waste—organic and packaging waste originating from international flights. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies such waste as biosecurity-sensitive, requiring strict segregation and treatment to prevent cross-border contamination. Indonesia once pledged to “return international flight waste to its country of origin,” but practical enforcement has been difficult due to logistical and regulatory limitations. In reality, as Tempo.co (2024) reported, “Soekarno-Hatta Airport produces 85 million pieces of trash from its 85,000 daily passengers.” This figure encapsulates both the challenge and the urgency of structural reform.
Circularity Is Not a Theory—It Is an Obligation
Around the world, leading airports have demonstrated that circular waste management is not only feasible but also economically advantageous. Incheon International Airport, South Korea, has developed a sophisticated system separating six distinct waste streams: construction waste, hazardous waste, general waste, incinerated waste, landfill disposal, and recyclable materials. According to AIMS Press (2022), Incheon successfully reduced its general waste per enplaned passenger to just 0.29 kilograms in both 2018 and 2019—without compromising service quality or passenger experience.
Singapore’s Changi Airport has gone further by integrating on-site composting for organic waste, upcycling construction materials, and publishing transparent annual sustainability reports. Meanwhile, San Diego International Airport in the United States has achieved an 87 percent diversion rate under its Zero Waste Program. All tenants receive mandatory waste segregation training, food waste is composted on-site, and contracts are linked to environmental performance rather than the lowest hauling cost.
These airports prove that circularity is not an idealistic agenda; it is a rational business strategy. By reducing long-term waste costs, enhancing public reputation, and creating new resource markets, circular systems redefine waste from liability into an asset. They show that ecological accountability and operational efficiency can, in fact, reinforce one another.
Green Startups: Turning Waste into Value
Indonesia’s demographic advantage—young, creative, digitally connected—offers fertile ground for startups in environmental innovation. The aviation sector, with its steady waste volumes and centralized logistics, provides a perfect testing ground for digital and service-based solutions.
A promising model is Waste-as-a-Service (WaaS), which provides integrated waste segregation, logistics, processing, and data reporting under a digital platform. Such systems can connect airport operators, airlines, and catering providers in real time, ensuring transparency and accountability.
Another viable innovation lies in reverse logistics for catering and retail packaging. By using deposit-return systems and centralized cleaning hubs, packaging can be reused multiple times before recycling—cutting down on virgin plastic consumption and landfill dependency.
Food waste composting represents another untapped opportunity. On-site composting systems for leftovers from restaurants and flight catering could convert hundreds of tons of organic waste into compost for airport landscaping. American airports applying similar methods have reduced their waste disposal costs by up to 30 percent annually while improving their sustainability performance.
Finally, Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) near airport zones could serve as industrial backbones of circular economies. By receiving and sorting recyclables from multiple sources—plastic, cardboard, metal, textiles—MRFs guarantee a stable volume of materials for local recycling industries. The combination of airport-scale waste and technological traceability offers enormous potential for value creation.
However, innovation cannot thrive without enabling infrastructure and policy. Startups face bureaucratic bottlenecks and logistical restrictions when operating within airport security zones. Fiscal incentives, simplified licensing for green operators, and tax credits for recycling initiatives would provide the momentum needed to nurture an aviation-based green startup ecosystem.
The Human Factor: The Missing Link in Airport Sustainability
Technology and capital will not solve the waste problem without human competence to manage them. In Indonesia, the weakest link in environmental management is human capacity. Aviation academies and vocational schools rarely integrate environmental management or waste logistics into their curricula. Courses still revolve around operations, communication, and passenger service, with little emphasis on ecological literacy.
By contrast, in major global airports, environmental operations management is a required certification for airport executives. Indonesia must adopt a similar approach. The Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Manpower, and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry could jointly develop a National Occupational Competency Standard (SKKNI) for airside waste logistics and airport circular economy management.
Training modules should include waste segregation, composting technologies, emission measurement, carbon accounting, and green procurement. Incorporating these into national competency standards would professionalize the field—creating career paths such as Airport Circular Economy Specialist or Sustainable Operations Manager.
Beyond formal education, universities and polytechnics can play catalytic roles by launching green aviation incubators. These innovation labs can unite students, startups, and airport authorities to design pilot projects—such as terminal waste audits, returnable packaging systems, or cost-benefit models for waste-to-energy conversions. Through such collaborations, education becomes the vital bridge between policy, innovation, and field implementation.
Collaborative Governance: From Ministries to Passengers
Airport waste management cannot be solved in isolation. It requires collaborative governance across ministries, private operators, and even passengers.
The central government must integrate environmental metrics into airport licensing and oversight. The Ministry of Transportation should coordinate with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to set enforceable standards for segregation, recovery, and annual reporting.
Airport operators—such as PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia—must embed sustainability targets within their contracts with vendors and tenants. Airlines and caterers should commit to using recyclable packaging and disclose their cabin waste data publicly.
Civil society and startups can fill innovation and oversight gaps. While the private sector drives technological advancement, the public can exert moral and social pressure. Even passengers have agency. Incentives such as discounts for reusable cups or bring-your-bottle programs can reshape consumption behaviour within terminals.
Soekarno-Hatta, Juanda, and Ngurah Rai airports could serve as national pilots for integrated circular management. These three hubs represent distinct operational profiles: metropolitan, mid-sized, and tourism-based. Each could apply source segregation, on-site organic treatment, and reverse logistics systems. Crucially, their environmental performance data should be made public, enabling transparent accountability and societal engagement.
Toward a National Green Airport Policy
If Indonesia is serious about its Net Zero Emission 2060 commitment, it must address aviation’s hidden contribution to waste and emissions. The absence of a unified framework for airport waste has allowed fragmented practices and inconsistent enforcement. A dedicated ministerial regulation on Airport Waste Management is now overdue.
This regulation should integrate mandates from both the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Environment. It must establish clear minimum standards for segregation, annual diversion targets, mandatory environmental reporting, and incentive structures for compliance.
Furthermore, the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)—where producers take back or fund the recovery of their packaging—must be applied to airport-based retail and catering industries. The EPR model has already proven effective in Europe’s food and beverage sectors; adopting it in aviation would redistribute responsibility fairly along the supply chain.
Green financing instruments could also play a transformative role. Through blended finance—combining concessional loans, grants, and private investment—the government can support early-stage infrastructure such as composting units, sorting centres, and digital traceability platforms. This model, successfully applied in renewable energy projects, could accelerate sustainable waste management in airports at minimal fiscal burden.
To ensure transparency, annual sustainability reports should be made mandatory for all major airports, aligning with international frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Such reporting would not only showcase progress but also attract green investors and multilateral support.
From Burden to Reputation: A New Vision for Indonesia’s Airports
Airport waste management is not a technical side issue—it is a moral and developmental imperative. A nation capable of managing waste at its air gateways demonstrates a maturity that balances growth with stewardship. Clean airports are not a matter of aesthetics but of governance and culture.
An airport designed to minimize waste generation, rather than constantly cleaning up after it, represents true advancement. The transformation requires a strong commitment to political will, regulatory coherence, and active civic participation. Governments must uphold consistent enforcement and incentives; airport operators must embed sustainability into their key performance indicators; startups and universities must innovate boldly; and the public must embody a culture of environmental mindfulness.
Like aviation safety, airport environmental management cannot be half-hearted. It demands systems, discipline, and a long-term vision. When these elements converge, airports cease to be sources of pollution—they become symbols of civilization capable of harmonizing sky and earth.
References
UBS–USG Journal. Business Process Reengineering of Aviation Waste Management Based on ISO 14001:2015 at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, 2023.
Tempo.co. “Indonesia Demands International Aviation Waste Be Returned to Country of Origin,” Tempo English, 2024.
AIMS Press. Clean Technologies and Recycling: Waste Management Practices in Incheon International Airport, 2022.
Changi Airport Group. Sustainability Report 2022.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Zero Waste Case Study: San Diego International Airport, 2023.
Marine Pollution Bulletin. “Plastic Waste Leakage and Management in Indonesia,” Elsevier, 2024.
ICAO. Waste Management at Airports: Case Studies and Guidelines, 2023.
OECD. Extended Producer Responsibility Policies for Waste Packaging, 2022.
