Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2023

SUSTAINABILTY SNAPSHOT

Cooper points out that surveys of the areas containing bees have shown an increase in native pollinator species, which has benefited the Port of Seattle ’s mitigation projects and vacant land. He also notes that the airport doesn’t profit off of this program, as it’s chosen not to market the honey commercially, but it’s a low-maintenance way to be sustainable. “This has been a terrific benefit for the environmental efforts of our team with little effort from the Port of Seattle and great participation from the vendor group,” he says. “The goal for SEA is to be the most environmentally friendly airport in North America—you could say we’re doing this ‘one bee at a time.’” MCO’s apiary program launched in 2018 in collaboration with Bee Serious , which does live bee removal and beekeeping and produces honey commercially. During peak season, more than 500 hives are located within several locations of undeveloped airport property that aren’t accessible to the public. These areas are rich in flora, including saw palmetto and Brazilian pepper, which are two plants that produce a flavorful and unique honey, according to MCO’s wildlife team. YYZ has had a honeybee apiary on site for two years now and it has been very well received, notes Todd Ernst, director of aviation, infrastructure, energy and environment for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority . “One of the Canadian

Border Services Agency employees is actually a hobby beekeeper and he offered to get involved in locating some beehives here on the airport. I think we’re at 15 beehives now on site and over a million bees. We use the honey for giveaways—it’s not enough to be a commercial beehive, but it’s still substantial.” At CAK, Dietry notes that the beekeeping process hasn’t been challenging so much as enlightening. “It was really fascinating to see how many factors are involved in just the initial decision on where the best and safest locations are to situate the hives,” he says. “We mapped some areas that we thought would be good spots and then Mike rode with us to those sites and educated us on what was good or bad about each specific site and then we were able to narrow it down based on his feedback.” Dietry adds that the honey produced by the bees on the airport property can be tested to determine the air quality and the possibility of pollutants caused by air traffic, which has been a boon to the environmental services department, which is responsible for monitoring the impact that chemicals and toxic substances could have on the community. “Bees are the best kind of tenants: They don’t take up much space, they don’t eat much, they don’t make much noise and they make you homemade gifts like beeswax and honey,” Dietry says. “We’re very excited about supporting local agriculture—the

effort of honeybees helps to create roughly one-third of all food consumed.” Since CAK only just started its program this year, the environmental team hasn’t harvested any honey yet, but once the team is sure the bees are happy and thriving, the plan is to gather the honey to be used in the airport’s restaurants and bars. “After that, the sky’s the limit, no airport pun intended!” Dietry says. “Bee byproducts can be of benefit in limitless ways—we can’t wait to see what the future possibilities entail.” Veteran Involvement MSP has a unique beekeeping program. The University of Minnesota ’s Bee Veterans program began at the airport in 2016 with support from the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). The program provides free beekeeping education for military veterans, including regular workshops on basic beekeeping techniques, tips on seasonal bee management and mindfulness practices. Above: Seattle–Tacoma International Airport started its airport apiary program in 2013 and currently contracts with Sunflower Bee Company. The program has proved to be low-maintenance and terrific for the environment, helping the airport toward its goal of being the most environmentally friendly airport in North America.

38

AX NEWS CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE 2023