Building the business case for off-site waste sortation
The context
Major Australian international airport. Legacy waste infrastructure with limited visibility. A precinct waste strategy set the direction, but key operational questions remained — the off-site sortation business case, design inputs for the terminal expansion, and whether the biosecurity constraint on international departures waste could be engineered out.
What we did
- Scenario assessment of two off-site sortation operating models vs a do-nothing baseline — infrastructure, ownership, financials, diversion uplift, risks
- Feasibility assessment of reclassifying international departures waste as commercial waste
- Maturity assessment by waste stream against the strategy
- Operational readiness roadmap with a RACI clarifying process ownership across the airport and contractors
The results
- Quantified, defensible business case for off-site sortation
- Clear ownership and accountability for the future-state model
- Biosecurity question answered — unlocking diversion uplift and cost reduction
- Strategy translated into an actionable delivery roadmap
