Although flying is not exactly part of traveling sustainably, many of us do it (including myself) and thankfully airlines are trying to reduce the amount of trash on flights. Qantas was the first airline to operate the first ´zero-waste´ flight on May 8 of this year. All products used on flight QF739, which normally produces 34 kg of waste, from Sydney to Adelaide will go to compost, be reused or recycled. Some 1,000 single-use plastic items were substituted with sustainable alternatives or were completely removed from the flight, such as individually-packaged servings of milk and Vegemite. Eco-friendly packaging company BioPak provided meal containers made from sugar cane and cutlery made from crop starch. After the meal, cabin crew collected items into separate waste bins and they took in any paper boarding passes or other used papers to recycle them. Furthermore, Qantas confirmed the flight was 100% carbon offset by the airline´s own program that plants trees in parts of Australia and New Zealand vulnerable to deforestation. The program offers Qantas customers 10 Qantas Points for every dollar spent offsetting their travel from Australia.

The flight was the first step toward the airlines green goal of eliminating 75% of their waste by 2021. This means that 45 million plastic cups, 30 million cutlery sets, 21 million coffee cups, and 4 million headrest covers will be replaced with sustainable alternatives. Food waste from international flights cannot be composted due to legal requirements, but Qantas said it will work with suppliers and government to reduce the volume of this waste. Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David said the trial flight was an important milestone for the airline´s plan to cut back on waste “In the process of carrying over 50 million people every year, Qantas and Jetstar currently produce an amount of waste equivalent to 80 fully-laden Boeing 747 jumbo jets,” Mr David said. While there will be an initial expense, Mr David said the move will eventually save money by cutting the cost of waste disposal and would not push airfares higher. “We want to give customers the same level of service they currently enjoy, but without the amount of waste that comes with it,” he said. “This flight is about testing our products, refining the waste process and getting feedback from our customers.”

In January 2018 Qantas also made headlines with the world's first biofuel flight between the United States and Australia, a 15-hour trans-Pacific flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, using fuel made from mustard seed. Qantas is a signatory member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), and has established landmark partnerships with US based bio-energy company SG Preston and Canadian based agricultural-technology company Agrisoma Biosciences.

Sources

Further reading

Qantas Future Planet Insights Rep

Picture: Stuff.co.nz

The world's first zero-waste flight