Queenstown Airport’s on a mission to make a molehill out of a mountain.

Sustainability and corporate affairs GM Sara Irvine says a recent waste audit, in conjunction with Wastebusters, showed contaminated recycling’s a big issue, and a contributor to carbon emissions at the airport.

The contaminated material included 6000 single-use cups a week — instead of being recycled, it’s going straight to landfill.

A leading cause of that contamination’s cups and bottles still filled with liquids when they’re put in a recycling bin.

To help, Irvine says the airport will remove single-use cups from the airport this year and install ‘‘liquid disposals’’, primarily for departing passengers to get rid of liquids responsibly before they go through security screening.

The airport’s also looking at the shared waste facility to make sure it’s easy for people to recycle and dispose of waste responsibly, and minimise the material going to landfill.

In the past few months, Irvine says, they’ve also increased the size of the onsite compost facility, and trialled and subsequently increased the type of organic waste that can go into compost, ‘‘because we recognise that’s a big contributor [too]’’.

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