Q6 Full Business Plan - Heathrow Airport

4. Our proposition for Q6
Focus on sustainability
Deliver improved
resilience and sufficient
hub capacity
4.2.4 Focus on sustainability (continued)
• Waste will be segregated at source
where possible and recycling will
increase, cutting the need to
dispose of waste via energy from
waste incinerators, and to landfill.
• The number of electrically
operated operational vehicles will
increase as Heathrow’s electric
charging infrastructure develops –
cutting local pollution levels, and
reducing operating costs for fleet
operators.
• With the opening of T2 and
through a retrofit programme, an
increasing number of airlines will
be able to benefit from preconditioned
air units that cut the
fuel cost for airlines while reducing
local air pollution. This will
demonstrate that the airport is
fulfilling its role in meeting local air
pollution limits.
• Heathrow’s surface water pollution
control infrastructure will have
been improved, providing greater
resilience for future weather
events and supporting the airport’s
ongoing commitment to
compliance with regulatory
standards. De-icer recovery activity
on the airfield will continue to
increase and, if technology trials
prove to be successful, we will see
increasing levels of de-icer being
extracted and recycled from
surface water, reducing the
pollution load requiring treatment.
• The airport will increasingly use
water from non-potable sources to
reduce demand on the public
water supply. Wherever water
from the public supply is
consumed, the water-using
systems will be designed and
specified to minimise water
consumption through the use of
water-efficient fittings.
Although aircraft movement figures
were similar between the start and
end of Q5, we have seen good
progress in reducing the size of our
noise contours.
Between 2006 and 2011, the area
within the 55dBA Lden has fallen by
around 9% (this is the standard
European measure for noise from all
forms of transport, which measures
average noise above 55 decibels over
the course of the day). A significant
part of this reduction is as a result of
the replacement of older aircraft
with newer, quieter variants and the
introduction of new aircraft types
such as the A380 and B787. In part
this is incentivised by Heathrow’s
aeronautical charge structure that
provides for lower prices for quieter
planes. Heathrow will continue to
encourage the use of quieter aircraft
as well as pursuing opportunities to
trial operational procedures to
reduce noise impacts.
Among other steps, during Q6 we
will see the roll out of improved
noise insulation schemes to the
local community and enhancements
in our noise and track monitoring
systems to enable the provision of
information in a more accessible
format. We will be setting out our
approach on noise in a separate
document during the course of 2013.
Page 32 Heathrow Q6 Full Business Plan - Public version | Chapter 4 © Heathrow Airport Limited 2013