Atlanta Airport Compostable Foodservice Ware Packet

Many event venues, office buildings, malls, airports, and other facilities with food-court operations are embarking on the zero-waste journey. One of the first steps in the journey is back-of-the-house organics collection for composting as there are no or minimal purchasing changes necessary.

Front-of-the-house collection of food waste and packaging is the next stage in zero-waste practices and may involve significant modification to current foodservice packaging used by operators. With recent product innovations, there are many options available to foodservice operators.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) served as the Sustainable Food Court Initiative (SFCI) Airport Pilot. With the SFCI Team support, ATL used the 2011 Concessionaire RFP – request for proposal – as an opportunity to set a solid sustainability platform during the 10-year contract term, with three one-year options.

The new concessionaire contracts that went into effect beginning in 2012 include, among others, the following provision:

Concessionaire shall use compostable serviceware along with consumer facing packaging and source separate all food service wastes for direct transport to off-airport composting facilities.

The HJAIA Compostable Foodservice Ware Packet intent was to provide clear, concise information:

1) To allow concessionaires to satisfy the contract provisions stipulated in the Airport Concessions Contract; and
2) To ensure effective ongoing communication with product manufacturers and distributors.

The SFCI Team was available to support concessionaires with education and information on compostable packaging. With a solid understanding of the compostable-packaging requirements, operators were in a position to work with existing distributors or discover additional options in the marketplace to satisfy the Compostable Foodservice Ware Program evolution of their foodservice packaging.

The Compostable Foodservice Ware Packet is available for download below:
HJAIA Compostable Foodservice Ware Packet (107 KB)

The ZWA Blog post, Compostable Packaging Info Packet, details the Info Packet main provisions; the Exemptions | Exclusions Added to Atlanta Airport Info Packet article is an overview of Info Packet updates for exempted | excluded items.