Recycling at 30,000 feet
I do a fair amount of flying around North America – and to Europe when I’m lucky. I have always been struck by the fact that at the end of almost all of my flights, flight attendants most often circulate with only one bag to collect newspapers, aluminum, glass, plastic cups and trays and any other garbage passengers have created during their flight. I have always been fairly appalled by this outright lack of effort by airlines, and have made a habit of keeping my recyclables, if I have any, taking them off of the plane, and locating the nearest recycling receptacle in the airport – if one is available.
A recent report from the U.S. environmental group Green America (www.GreenAmericaToday.org) reminds us just how poorly airlines continue to perform on the recycling front. According to the report, “What Goes Up Must Go Down: The Sorry State of Recycling in the Airline Industry” (available at http://www.greenamericatoday.org/go/AirlineRecyclingReport/), Delta, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are doing the best job, while United and US Airways are doing the worst job, when it comes to recycling. Other airlines ranked in the report include Continental, Jet Blue, American, British Airways and Air Tran, all of which fall in the middle of the pack. The report looked at five areas of onboard recycling, from variety in waste recycled to other in-flight sustainability initiatives. No airline received a grade higher than a B-.
“Our report demonstrates that several airlines are significantly ahead of their competitors in taking steps…and it is clear that comprehensive recycling programs can be implemented effectively and economically,” said Green America corporate responsibility director, Todd Larsen.
Specifically, the report from Green America indicates that nearly 75 percent of in-flight generated waste is recyclable, but that only about 20 percent is actually recycled, on average. And according to research published by the U.S.-based Natural Resource Defense Council, airlines annually throw away 9,000 tons of plastic, enough aluminum cans to build 58 Boeing 747 jets, and enough newspaper and magazines to cover a football field 230 metres deep.
In addition to the overall dismal recycling policies of the airlines, Green America’s on-flight research identified that some airlines are not actually implementing their stated policies in the air. As a result, the organization is calling on passengers in the U.S. to respectfully ask flight attendants if materials on their specific flights are being recycled, and to report their findings to Green America at http://www.greenamericatoday.org/takeaction/airline/airline_recycling.cfm.
In Canada, the situation is similar to that in the U.S. Air Canada says they have been “unofficially” recycling onboard products as far back as the late 1990s. Officially, Air Canada’s Onboard Recycling Program came into effect only in December 2006, and is “still being implemented.” It includes only newspapers and tin cans.
Time to step it up, I’d say.