Business
Business

Hartsfield-Jackson’s green dreams meet reality

Liza Milagro, the airport’s senior sustainability leader, at the site of the future Green Acres airport composting and recycling facility. The project has been on the drawing board for years but has been slowed by contracting issues. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Kelly Yamanouchi

Credit: Kelly Yamanouchi

Liza Milagro, the airport’s senior sustainability leader, at the site of the future Green Acres airport composting and recycling facility. The project has been on the drawing board for years but has been slowed by contracting issues. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM
By
Oct 28, 2016

Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for years have pursued an unusual goal: To build a first-of-its-kind recycling and composting facility on airport grounds.

It’s the linchpin in a lofty ambition: To make the world’s busiest airport — home to tens of thousands of cars and shuttles and thousands of jet aircraft taking off and landing daily — also a leading “green” airport.

“I want Hartsfeld-Jackson to be one of the most sustainable airports in America,” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said of the city-run airport.

Finding a business to take on the project, dubbed Green Acres ATL Energy Park, has turned into a case of good intentions flying headlong into reality, however.

Read more about the Green Acres project -- and the challenges it faces -- on MyAJC.com.

About the Author

As business team lead, Kelly Yamanouchi edits and writes business stories. She graduated from Harvard and has a master's degree from Northwestern.

Follow Kelly Yamanouchi on facebookFollow Kelly Yamanouchi on twitter
More Stories

Keep Reading

FILE PHOTO: Workers harvest field corn at Worsham Farms in Camilla, Georgia on Friday, October 18, 2019. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Bill to limit lawsuits against crop chemical makers heads to Gov. Kemp

A bill to shield manufacturers of crop chemicals from liability passed both chambers of the Georgia legislature, and now Gov. Brian Kemp will have the final say.

Two more mall-sized data centers proposed for metro Atlanta

Bolstered by the near-bottomless demand for more digital storage space and artificial intelligence technologies, massive data center proposals are becoming as common as kudzu.

Georgia Power grilled about possible gas units not mentioned in long-range plan

Georgia Power this week defended plans to continuing to burn coal to serve data centers and faced questions about the transparency of its pursuit of new gas units.

The Latest

FILE PHOTO: Workers harvest field corn at Worsham Farms in Camilla, Georgia on Friday, October 18, 2019. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Bill to limit lawsuits against crop chemical makers heads to Gov. Kemp

Two more mall-sized data centers proposed for metro Atlanta

Georgia Power grilled about possible gas units not mentioned in long-range plan

Featured

Georgia Power's Plant Bowen in Cartersville is shown in this 2015 photo. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)

Credit: hshin@ajc.com

Georgia Power grilled about possible gas units not mentioned in long-range plan

Georgia Power this week defended plans to continuing to burn coal to serve data centers and faced questions about the transparency of its pursuit of new gas units.

Georgia backs off THC drink ban, instead allowing sales in liquor stores

THC-infused drinks won't be banned in Georgia under a bill moving toward final votes. Instead, THC drinks could be sold in liquor stores as well as existing hemp retailers.

Is Young Thug back outside? Atlanta rapper to headline another festival

Atlanta rapper Young Thug will headline festivals in Chicago and Belgium this summer, and teased new music under the name UY Scuti.