At Security, Keep Your Bottle – Just Lose the Liquid

Cue “The Twilight Zone” theme: “Doo-doo doo-doo, Doo-doo doo-doo, Doo-doo doo-doo…”

Picture an airport security checkpoint line. You’re running late. You’re thirsty, but there’s no time to go get a drink. You stand in line, impatiently checking your watch. Then you notice the man in front of you has a bottle of water, as does the woman in front of him. And the next person and the next . . . all the way to the front of the line. Each person is trying to take a bottle through the checkpoint.

Oh, no! you think. Is this a nightmare? The line is crawling. Your plane is boarding. And then something happens. You’ve just entered – the Beverage Disposal Zone.”

For nervous travelers who believe that everything that can go wrong will go wrong, that scenario may not be so far-fetched. But the Murphy’s Law faithful can rest easy when flying from Pittsburgh International Airport thanks to new Beverage Disposal Stations.

READ MORE: Drier than the Desert? Tips to Stay Hydrated on Your Flight

The stations allow passengers to dump their unfinished drinks prior to the screening process and then keep or recycle their bottle or cup. There are three stations at the Main Security Checkpoint and another at the Alternate Checkpoint.

The concept is simple: Travelers dump their liquids into what appears to be a simple basin. The liquid then flows down a tube and into an eight-gallon container. When full, airport staff disconnect the tank, replace it with another, and dispose of the liquids down a safe drain.

That’s a lot better than trying to lift a liquid-laden garbage bag out of a can. The tanks eliminate the risk of a bag breaking open and spilling it