74
CONCESSIONS  
May | June 2026      AirportImprovement.com
SEA
Between half-finished coffee 
cups and containers with 
uneaten food inside, airport 
customers generate a steady stream of 
trash. And the hurried pace of travel leaves 
little time for proper sorting and disposal.
This presented a significant operational 
and sustainability challenge for Seattle-
Tacoma International Airport (SEA). Food 
service waste is the largest and most 
complex waste stream inside its terminal, 
driving up hauling costs, complicating 
diversion efforts and putting increased 
pressure on the airport’s industry-leading 
sustainability goals.
But in every challenge lies opportunity. 
For SEA, that challenge became the 
foundation of Sip, Savor, Sustain, an initiative 
that reduces landfill waste by redirecting 
tons of food waste and packaging into 
composting and recycling streams.
Jeremy Webb, 
environmental 
manager for the 
airport’s sustainability 
team, explains how 
the program fits 
into SEA’s overall 
sustainability 
goals. “We have an 
established goal at the airport to achieve 
60% waste diversion from our terminal, 
and Sip, Savor, Sustain helps us move in 
that direction,” says the 22-year veteran 
of the environmental services team. “We 
quickly realized that in order to reach 
this goal, we needed to focus on the 
biggest source of our waste stream, 
which is predominantly disposable takeout 
food serviceware and food scraps. This 
program captures some of the largest 
sources of airport waste and makes it 
more recoverable through composting 
and recycling.”
Data indicates the program is working. 
Since its launch in 2024, Sip, Savor, 
Sustain has increased composting 
tonnage from the airport by 14%.
Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Mandates Compostable 
Takeout Containers, Reusable Serviceware 
to Reduce Concessions Waste Stream
BY RONNIE WENDT
JEREMY WEBB

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.