Airports Company South Africa - ACSA and the environment

ACSA and the environment

ACSA is committed to promoting a healthy environment, and to preserving it for the benefit of present and future generations. Our concern with the environment goes to the heart of our focus on sustainability. Our approach is therefore to continue to entrench sound environmental management philosophies and business practices that will sustain ACSA’s value into the future.

Environmental management

Our approach to environmental management is based on the simple model of plan, develop, implement, audit and review to ensure continual improvement.

ACSA complies with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Environmental Conservation Act, and the White Paper on Aircraft Noise and Engine Emissions. Our policies and procedures are developed in accordance with national legislation and address aircraft noise, bird management, storm-water run-off, air quality and occupational health and safety.

ACSA views environmental integrity of airports as an absolute requirement. Cape Town International Airport is piloting the development of an environmental management system, in accordance with ISO14001, to be rolled out to other airports.

We have also:

Taken a number of steps to alleviate noise pollution, including changes to flight frequency over the same areas and flight patterns
Formed alliances with local authorities in neighbouring areas to enforce zoning prohibitions
Provided input to the Department of Transport for a draft national policy on noise pollution
Measured noise levels over Pretoria to test provincial legislation against standards set by the SABS
Lobbied airlines for quieter aircraft and participated in international forums to develop strategies to deal with the problem
Introduced water and energy conservation, waste management and alien vegetation removal programmes

We minimise the impact on storm and ground water by using a specialised product to clear and safely dispose of apron spillages, and monitor storm water monthly to ensure it is not polluted.

ACSA has also partnered with the Endangered Wildlife Trust to minimise bird strikes and other contact with wildlife by applying environmentally sensitive management techniques.

Wildlife management

ACSA’s comprehensive Geograhic Information Systems (GIS) wildlife management system upgraded to reduce the risk of costly anddangerous bird strikes

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has been at the forefront of managing and controlling wildlife at all its airports, and hasnow extended its comprehensive environmental awareness and wildlife management programme to include the use of sophisticated handheld computers with integrated Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

ACSA selected Trimble Recon® Nomad™ handheld and Trimble Recon® GPS XC edition rugged handheld computers with integrated GPS for data collection. This equipment enables wildlife officers to gather valuable information in the field, capture the data once and build anaccurate, detailed and current database to manage and maintain airport infrastructures and reduce the risk of bird strikes. “Since its implementation, ACSA has been able to compile valuable statistical information, determine trends and create compliance reports” says Mike Steyn, a Geographical Information System (GIS) consultant to ACSA. The application offers a wildlife counting module, a patrol module and one for monitoring grass height and maintenance.

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