Sarah Ziomek Drives Sustainability at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

Sarah Ziomek is a key figure in driving sustainability at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), where she serves as the Enterprise Sustainability Programs Manager. Ziomek focuses on transforming waste management practices to support the airport’s goal of achieving net zero by 2030 and being a zero waste location by 2040. DFW is currently the third busiest airport in the world, according to the Airports Council International.

In this Q&A interview, Ziomek, a Waste360 40 Under 40 award winner, discusses DFW’s zero waste initiative, supporting staff and community education, and what she finds exciting about the work she does to continually improve sustainability within the airport’s ecosystem.

Waste360: What are some of your roles and responsibilities?

Sarah Ziomek: I oversee a few different programs. The key one is sustainability, which really has a focus on researching emerging trends and best practices, developing our strategy, setting our goals, and then developing the roadmap to achieve those goals.

At DFW, our sustainability strategy includes several different focus areas. The key ones I work on are climate action, energy performance, water and biodiversity, and circular economy, which is focused on waste. I also oversee the operations for solid waste and recycling.

One of the things about my job that is pretty exciting is that I get to focus on our zero waste strategy, and then I get to lead the team to go and implement that strategy. We get to work on both sides of the coin.

Waste360: What are some of the strategies DFW is using to work toward achieving zero waste?

Sarah Ziomek: We set a very ambitious goal to achieve zero waste over the next few decades, which we’re defining as 90% diversion of waste from landfills and incinerators. We set that goal around 2020. For our zero waste programs, we’re really focused on implementing the circular economy approach to waste management.

For us, a key part of this focus area has been our recycling program. We operate that recycling program in-house, which allows us a lot more flexibility to adapt, but also allows us to generate rebates. We generate revenue through that, which is a great co-benefit.

Running our own internal recycling program gives us a lot of flexibility. We have a lot of unique waste streams at the airport. We move a lot of cargo, so we have palettes, and we operate a palette recycling program. We have around 200 concessions, and we collect that used cooking oil, and it gets recycled through a third-party partner into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Our team services not just the airport terminals, and our own operations, but they also serve over 140 tenants throughout our footprint.

Waste360: What are some challenges that you tackle in your job? You have these huge goals and huge initiatives, but what are some of the fun problems you get to solve?

Sarah Ziomek: Airports are complex ecosystems, and the world of waste is complex. One of the fun parts about my job is that it involves systems thinking, and it involves being able to analyze all of the interdependencies and interconnections between different parts of the airport and parts of our operations. We really focus on people, process, and controls.

For example, with our composting program, on the people side, there is continuous education, whether we’re thinking about a concessionaire or composting in our office buildings with employees, there is continuous education of our team members to make sure that they’re not contaminating the compost stream.

When we think about process, collecting food waste is very labor intensive. If you walked all of our terminals, it’s somewhere around three miles. Thinking about efficiency is a key part of our everyday focus.

Another challenge we have is that we have passengers from all over the world, and they have different knowledge and different expectations around waste and around sorting. This year, one of the things I’m really excited about is that we are partnering with our Innovation department to think about messaging around waste. First, we are focusing on our employees, and partnering with Innovation, we are conducting an employee waste challenge this summer. We’re going to be talking about the process of recycling and building confidence in sorting, and those lessons learned will be transferrable to the airport ecosystem at large.

Another challenge is that North Texas has about 35 years of landfill capacity remaining. For us, being a large economic engine in our region, focusing on waste diversion is really important in being a community leader.

Waste360: What has been a learning curve or a new skill that you have had to acquire to be successful in your role?

Sarah Ziomek: There is continuous learning involved in the field of waste management. For example, looking at the equipment of our team to continue operating efficiently, we needed a new roll-off truck. I had to learn about different waste hauling equipment.

Another new skill is we conducted a waste audit to look at the composition of our waste stream in the terminals. I think one of the learning curves has been looking at our waste stream and identifying opportunities for different aspects of the waste we generate. 

Waste360: What professional path has brought you to this role?

Sarah Ziomek: I received my bachelor’s and master’s in environmental science from Texas Christian University. I am an environmental scientist by training, but my background is really focused on ecology, wetland science, and I spent a few years working in the environmental consulting world. I did a little bit of everything in environmental consulting, and then six years ago, I joined DFW airport.

There’s no traditional path in sustainability, because it’s such an emerging field, but I was drawn to the field because of the interdisciplinary approach to problem solving that it encourages. I get to use every aspect of my education, and my previous positions. I get to bring all of that knowledge to this role to solve different challenges, and I think that’s really exciting.

Waste360: What is something you enjoy about the work that you do?

Sarah Ziomek: I work with a great team that is really solutions-driven. They’re problem solvers. Working in the world of waste management is challenging and it could be frustrating at times, but I work with a team who is really focused on embracing those challenges.

In my role, I can see tangible results and I know that my work has an impact, and I think that’s very rewarding. I also appreciate the opportunities for stakeholder engagement and partnerships. There’s a whole network of players at DFW airport that I get to work with every day, and I think that also makes my job really rewarding.

I’m also really excited about the expansion of our composting program to all five terminals. That is one of the initiatives that I am most proud of over my time here.

Waste360: What advice would you give to young professionals new to the waste management field?

Sarah Ziomek: Never stop learning. Embrace every opportunity to diversify your skill set and gain expertise across multiple disciplines, such as environmental science, engineering, policymaking, communications, and business. Today’s challenges are multi-faceted, and developing effective solutions requires waste management professionals to think holistically, consider the entire lifecycle of waste, and work with stakeholders across several industry sectors.

Waste360: What is something new on the horizon?

Sarah Ziomek: Our glass recycling pilot program. The local recycling facility we haul to primarily processes the glass for use in fiberglass manufacturing; other applications include abrasives and beads used in reflective paints for highway striping.