Prague Airport will gradually reduce its own consumption of plastic packaging and is involving its business partners in the initiative. In this way, the airport will expand its environmental protection activities, which have so far focused mainly on reducing emissions, noise protection, and the protection of ground and surface water. At the same time, Prague Airport joins other European airports in looking for ways to reduce plastic waste.
“Although the European Parliament has passed a ban on the use of single-use plastics that will come into effect in 2021, Prague Airport is already coming up with its own initiatives now, and it will gradually be implementing specific measures to reduce single-use plastics. Among other things, the aim is to motivate passengers to reduce the environmental impacts of their travels, for example, by choosing reusable bottles for beverages or, if they buy beverages in single-use plastic bottles, by not throwing them away but emptying them before the security check and continuing to use them,” Soňa Hykyšová, Environmental Protection Manager of Prague Airport, stated.
A new system of sinks and drinking fountains can help the passengers do just this. Passengers can simply pour water out of their bottle into a sink before the security check, then once they have passed through security they can refill their empty bottle with drinking water free of charge using one of the 13 drinking fountains available throughout the terminals. Passengers can already try out the first sink in Terminal 2 now, and Prague Airport is preparing the installation of several more sinks in the future.
