Frankfurt Airport has announced the success of its bottle-deposit donation initiative, which allows passengers to donate their returnable bottles and cans in order to raise money for the poor.
As part of the initiative, the airport installed 25 bottle-return machines at two passenger terminals in December last year, allowing passengers and employees to put the deposits on their returnables to good use.
According to the airport, over the last three months, passengers donated over 46,000 bottles and cans, raising an amount of €10,000.
Fraport AG Terminal Management head Martina Pfeffer said: “Even we didn’t expect it to be such a success.”
“The campaign is evidence that it is often the little things that improve our service and allow our passengers to travel with a positive feeling.
Under the new initiative, donors can select the organisation that they wish to donate to – by choosing between international organisations, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Wings of Help (humanitarian airlifts).
The donors can also support regional organisations such as the Frankfurter Tafel, an organisation that donates food to the needy in Frankfurt, and the Franziskustreff, a Frankfurt-based charity that helps the homeless.
The donations are paid out every three months.
Returnable bottles and cans at Frankfurt Airport previously ended up in the trash, resulting in a lot of waste and wasted deposits.
Frankfurt Airport is the largest aviation hub in Germany, and handled more than more than 58 million air passengers in 2013.