Every flight, the standard passenger produces an average of 3.15 pounds of waste before leaving the aircraft, according to a 2014 study— and, as air traffic increases, so does the amount of waste produced. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has estimated that roughly 6.7 million US tons of waste were generated onboard aircraft in 2018. A year earlier, 6.3 million US tons of waste was generated. And according to statistics, 23% of the trash that originates on aircraft consists of perfectly viable food and beverages.
With a $15 billion market for airline catering in 2017, it’s increasingly important to start working on improving planning and logistics around waste. Food waste is a global problem. Roughly 1.3 billion tonnes (1.43 billion tons) of food is lost or wasted each year, according to the IATA. That’s about one-third of all food available. Recyclable newspapers, paper trays, plastic cups, and cutlery constitute another 17% of the waste on board, according to the report. Passengers also leave plastic wrappings from blankets and pillows, disposable headphones, as well as mini toiletries and cosmetics.
There’s also another tricky problem associated with cabin waste — often it can’t just be taken away from the aircraft, sorted, and reprocessed. Many countries have strict health and safety regulations in place, which means that in many cases, waste from aircraft ends up going to incineration plants. Airlines around the world have started devising their own ways to cut down on waste produced during flights.
Australian carrier Qantas completed its first “zero-waste” commercial flight in May, Buying Business Travel (BBT) reported. This means all the waste generated during the Sydney to Adelaide flight was recyclable, reusable, or compostable. Around 1,000 plastic items were replaced with more environmentally friendly alternatives: The meal containers were made from sugar cane, and the cutlery from cereal starch, BBT reported. They were later collected in separate bags by the crew, who also took recycled passengers’ paper boarding passes and newspapers, the magazine said. This resulted in a reduction of around 34 kg (75 pounds) of plastic waste compared to normal flights, according to the airline’s calculations.