Galápagos Ecological Airport joins with Premios Verdes
The participants of the 10th edition of Premios Verdes learned about the sustainability strategy of the first ecological airport in the world.
The 10th edition of Premios Verdes, one of the most important events in Latin America in terms of sustainability, was recently held in Galapagos. The directors of the initiative, speakers, contestants, artists, and spokespeople were welcomed to the Galapagos International Airport where they were offered an ecological experience from their arrival to their departure.
The event started with a press conference on Thursday 19th August which took place in the VIP lounges of the Galapagos Ecological Airport and which was attended by Ángel Yánez, the mayor of Santa Cruz, José Javier Guarderas y Bianca Dáger, Executive Directors of Premios Verdes, Mónica Fistrovic, manager of LATAM Airlines Ecuador, and Jorge Rosillo, manager of the airport. Rosillo highlighted the fact that Galapagos is hosting such an important event for sustainability and that the islands are committed to the conservation of the planet, citing some of the key environmental, economic, and social achievements of the airport, which were summarised in their Sustainability Report presented to the guests.
After the press conference, the attendees of the event took a quick tour of the passenger terminal, in which they learned about some of the aspects for which it is certified as the first ecological airport in the world. Amongst other aspects, they were informed about the reuse of water, the generation of the airport’s own renewable energy, and how oil transportation pipes which were discarded in the Amazon were used to construct the terminal building.
Furthermore, the actions of the Plastic Free Baltra Project, carried out by the airport and LATAM Airlines, were highlighted. This project has allowed the airport to give an adequate final destination to the PET plastics collected in the passenger terminal: “with these PET bottles we have been able to make the fabric for our uniforms, in addition to building bicycles which we use in the operations area”, commented Rosillo.
In the final awards ceremony held on Saturday 22nd April, Jorge Rosillo, as an ally of Premios Verdes, presented the winning trophy to Alfredo Maul, a representative from Guatemala, who won in the category of sustainable mobility with the project Tuk Tuk Solar.
The Galapagos Ecological Airport supports projects like these which share their philosophy of promoting and implementing a more fair society in balance with nature.