A new way to rethink waste: innovative ideas and simple actions to make travel more sustainable — starting from the bin.
LIFE TRIPL-AIR — which stands for Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling of Airport Waste — is a collaborative European initiative involving four major airports: Madrid (Spain), Venice (Italy), Budapest (Hungary), and Dubrovnik (Croatia). Together, these airports aim to address one of aviation’s most pressing environmental challenges: effective airport waste management.
This project is funded under the LIFE Programme, the European Union’s financial instrument for environmental and climate action. Co-financed by the EU, it supports the transition towards a circular, resource-efficient, and low-carbon economy.
Airports function like small cities, with high passenger volumes, multiple businesses, and ongoing construction activities that generate significant amounts of municipal and construction waste. For example, a single regional airport can produce over 270,000 tons of waste annually, much of it unsorted.
Across Europe, approximately 200 civil aviation airports handle over 1 million passengers each year — creating a collective environmental footprint comparable to that of a small European country. Improving waste management in these complex settings is urgent, as it directly contributes to Europe’s climate and circular economy targets.
LIFE TRIPL-AIR sets ambitious goals:
These objectives will be achieved through a combination of innovative technologies, smart processes, and stakeholder engagement — all designed to be replicable at other airports and transport hubs.
The project is rolling out several pilot initiatives and tools:
By collecting and evaluating existing best practices, LIFE TRIPL-AIR aims to standardize and transfer the most effective solutions. The project plans to implement these models at all 90 airports managed by the consortium within three years of the project’s completion, with a goal of reaching all major European airports within five years.
Moreover, the project’s methodologies are adaptable to other high-traffic areas such as train stations, ports, bus terminals, festivals, and museums.
LIFE TRIPL-AIR supports the broader goals of the EU’s LIFE Programme by promoting a resource-efficient, circular, and low-carbon economy. It drives behavioral change, fosters small-scale investments, and engages airport communities — including passengers, staff, and commercial stakeholders.
With more than 2 billion passengers traveling through European airports annually, LIFE TRIPL-AIR aims to transform these sites into powerful multipliers of sustainable practices.