Whitsunday Coast Airport was the first project in Australia to achieve a zero waste status thanks to the innovative approach adopted by Fulton Hogan and the Council that saw the 2.1km runways upgrade at night, while planes still landed by day. 

In a first of its kinds upgrade the pavement was stabilised using a foam based bitumen product which at the end of each night was topped off with a protective layer of asphalt. This was the first time this specific rehabilitation process was used on a runway in Australia, in which a pavement is completely rehabilitated and then opened for traffic the next morning.