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NPEP Success Story
Dallas/Ft Worth International Airport Eliminates Use of Trifluralin Containing Herbicide
The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport covers more than 29.8 square miles (18,076 acres) with five terminals, seven runways, and three flight traffic control towers. Opened in 1974, DFW currently ranks 3rd in the world amongst other airports in terms of operations and 6th in terms of passengers. DFW serves approximately 60 million passengers annually and handled over 790 thousand tons of cargo in 2007 alone. Approximately 60,000 people work on DFW property, but only 1,740 of those are actually employed by the Airport Board. DFW Airport activity attributes approximately $16.6 billion to the north Texas economy by supporting 305,000 full-time jobs with a payroll of $7.6 billion.
DFW is a participant in the EPA's National Environmental Performance Track, as well as a Platinum Level Member of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Clean Texas program.
DFW’s NPEP Goal
DFW Airport chose two chemicals that are found in pre-emergent herbicides utilized by the Airport's grounds maintenance shop. Chemical #1, pendamethalin, was being used at a rate of 177 pounds per year. Chemical #2, trifluralin, was being used at a rate of 770 lbs per year. DFW planned to reduce the quantities of priority chemicals used by replacing the herbicides with less toxic substitutes.
Source Reduction Alternative Considered
Research by DFW staff showed that comparable products, free of pendamethalin and trifluralin, were available for the same purpose. The DFW Airport warehouse was provided with a list of substitute products for all orders of new stock.
Waste Minimization Results
DFW Airport reduced the rate of trifluralin containing herbicide used from a baseline of 770 lbs per year, to zero pounds per year (as measured from July 2007 to July 2008). All trifluralin containing herbicides were successfully substituted with comparable products that contain no priority chemicals.
DFW Airport was unable to reduce the rate of pendamethalin containing herbicide used. The baseline rate of 177 lbs/year remained unchanged for the July 2007-July 2008 reporting period. An overstock of inventory (prior to July 2007) resulted in the continued use of pendamethalin containing herbicide until all stocks had been depleted.
Lessons Learned
The pendamethalin setback is an example of how making changes associated with a voluntary program can be difficult. A solid demonstration of value added is a must have in order to get buy in from stakeholders. The key to success is good communication, a motivated team, and management support.
Into the future, DFW Airport will require that all new chemicals added to warehouse inventory be reviewed by the DFW Airport Environmental Affairs Department. As a result of participation in the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities, DFW Environmental Affairs Department has begun to incorporate a screening for priority chemicals into its review of warehouse inventory requests.