It takes how long??
This common beverage container for warm drinks can take approximately 30 years to break down.
What is a disposable coffee cup?
Visible from the West Runway, these SMF installations harnesses the sun to generate renewable energy for airport operations.
What are the solar fields?
After finishing your lunch, you have a banana peel left over. Which bin should it go in?
What is the compost bin?
This SMF Sustainability Team member met their significant other while rescuing a cat in a forest.
Who is Carmen Solis?
California has a statewide law requiring residents and businesses to keep these three types of waste separate instead of throwing everything into one trash bin.
What are trash, recycling, and organic waste?
This plastic item used to drink beverages can take approximately 200 years to break down.
What is a straw?
In 2025, SMF achieved 26% in this waste management metric, which measures the percentage of waste kept out of the landfill.
What is the diversion rate?
You've finished your bottled water and have an empty, plastic beverage bottle. Which bin does it belong in?
What is the recycling bin?
This SMF Sustainability Team member is a bassist and vocalist in the band Little Mischief.
Who is Zach Frese?
Despite being made of plastic, these popular disposable food containers are generally not accepted in curbside recycling programs.
What are Styrofoam containers?
This common beverage container can take approximately 450 years to break down.
What is a plastic water bottle?
Launched in January 2026, this SMF program diverted the equivalent of 23,500 used coffee pods from the landfill within its first eight months.
What is the K-Cycle at SMF?
You've wiped your hands with a used paper napkin after eating. Which bin should it go in?
What is the compost bin?
This SMF Sustainability Team member was president of the nations first Co-Ed Sustainability Fraternity in college.
These items can contaminate an entire recycling load when placed in the recycling bin.
What are plastic bags and film?
These single-use items that are central to meals can take approximately 450–500 years to break down, despite often being used for just one meal.
What are disposable plastic plates?
This SMF program helps reduce food waste by making unsold concession food available to airport employees. Nearly 4,000 pounds of consumables were recovered during its first six months.
What is the SMF Food Pantry Program?
You've finished your lunch and have a plastic sandwich bag that held your chips. Which bin should it go in?
What is the landfill bin?
This SMF Sustainability Team Member is fluent in German.
Who is Vivian Connolly?
This type of plastic product may say "compostable" on the packaging, but that doesn't mean it belongs in your backyard compost pile or curbside organics bin.
What are compostable plastics?
These commonly used disposable items can take approximately 200–1,000 years to break down in the environment, despite often being used for only a few minutes.
What are plastic forks, knives, and spoons?
This document outlines SMF's approach to sustainability and sets goals for water use, diversion, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions.
What is the Sustainability Management Plan?
You have a half finished soda in an aluminum can. Which bin should it go in?
What is the remaining soda should be dumped out and the can placed in the recycling bin?
This SMF Sustainability Team Member carried a 450 lb yoke to place second in a Strongman event.
Who is Bree Taylor?
When food scraps break down in a landfill without enough oxygen, they produce this powerful greenhouse gas.
What is methane?