Airlines’ recycling practices under scrutiny

United States – Delta, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are performing best in reducing the amount of waste generated by the air travel industry, reveals a new report focusing on US-based airlines. And according to the non-profit environmental grouping Green America, the report also shows that United and US Airways are doing the worst job in the sector when it comes to recycling.
Overall, airlines could recycle nearly 500 million more tonnes of waste each year, including 250 million tonnes of in-flight waste. While airlines acknowledge the importance of recycling waste, none recycles all the major recyclables – namely aluminium cans, glass, plastics and paper.

The report assesses the variety of waste recycled, future in-flight recycling plans, the scale of in-flight recycling programmes, education/encouragement of employees in on-board recycling schemes, and other in-flight sustainability initiatives. The report suggests that none of the airlines: has a comprehensive programme for minimising or composting food waste or waste from snack packages; provides good public information about their recycling programme; or reports on progress in relation to any stated goals. Green America’s on-flight research identified that some airlines are not actually implementing their stated policies in the air.

Nearly 75% of in-flight-generated waste is recyclable but only around 20% is actually recycled. According to research published by the Natural Resource Defence Council in the USA, airlines throw away each year some 9000 tonnes of plastic, enough aluminium cans to build 58 Boeing 747 jets, and enough newspapers and magazines to cover a football field 230 metres deep.