Quote: The Green America report gave Delta and Virgin America the best grades when it came to airline recycling programs, with both receiving a "B-." United Airlines and US Airways came in at the bottom of the list, both getting an "F."
....
Delta is furthest along among all the airlines studied in the report, Green America said.
The airline launched an in-flight recycling program in 2007, which salvages aluminum cans, plastic bottles, plastic trays, beverage cups, newspapers and magazines on flights landing in 20 major cities, the report says.
....
Delta does not recycle on international flights, however, which is one of the reasons it failed to receive an "A," according to the study.
Recycling program grades
1. Delta Air Lines (B-)
2. Virgin America (B-)
3. Virgin Atlantic (C)
4. Southwest Airlines (C)
5. Continental Airlines (D)
6. JetBlue (D)
7. American Airlines (D)
8. British Airways (D)
9. AirTran (D)
10. United Airlines (F)
11. US Airways (F) http://www.greenamericatoday.org/PDF/AirlineRecyclingReport.pdf
I was surprised as I thought that most airlines recycled, I often see FA's separating different types of trash. Does anyone here really care? How much does it cost or save an airline?
Tugg
I don’t know that I am unafraid to be myself, but it is hard to be somebody else. -W. Shatner
mayor From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 9192 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 3783 times:
Actually, we were recycling aluminum cans at SLC, long before 2007, but it was a local program. Reynolds Aluminum provided a trailer that was parked at Cabin Service and the cans were dumped in there. The money received went to the local employee fund which was used for Christmas parties, etc.
"A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary"----Fred Allen
dl767captain From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 2539 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 3767 times:
That's pretty cool that DL got such a high score, i didn't think they were making it such a big deal. It's good to see, i mean the amount of plastic cups and aluminum cans used on every flight it should be recycled
jcavinato From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 516 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 3768 times:
AIR in interenational settings many countries treat anything that was food, beverage, etc. onboard an inbound flight as near a bio-hazard that must be sterilized before subsequently disposing of it. This last step is done by garbage companies that are generally off-airport. They might do a subsequent recycling, but it would not be the airline, per se, doing it. This might be a reason why airlines are late in getting green internationally -- other than the carbon footprint of the plane, engine, etc.
Maybe the better question is how much does it cost *not* to?
Quoting dl767captain (Reply 2): That's pretty cool that DL got such a high score, i didn't think they were making it such a big deal.
I know at NW, the program was just starting to gain momentum when the merger occurred. It took a back seat to a lot of other stuff as far as priorities go, but seems to be rolling again (yes, I know DL has been recycling onboard-I'm speaking from a PMNW perspective).
"Nothing ever happens here, " I said. "I just wait."
AF Cabin Crew From French Polynesia, joined Sep 1999, 1036 posts, RR: 37 Reply 8, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 3612 times:
Ia Orana all !
At Air France we recycle all cans and plastic bottles on our flights TO CDG. flights from CDG we can't yet as we have to get a couple of agreements with the local caterers first.
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9286 posts, RR: 13 Reply 9, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3504 times:
Quoting Tugger (Thread starter): I was surprised as I thought that most airlines recycled
Keep in mind.... in order to recycle, the city you drop your trash off in must have a recycling program. The small town in Maine I'm from has you break down.. clear glass, colored glass, news print, colored print, cardboard, aluminum cans.. etc. The big city I live in now....nothing
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 3498 times:
Judging by the meals I had the last time I flew KL I guess they must be re-cycling their trash , both the meal trays and the actual contents
edited to add : In fairness , although the food was truly awful , it was good to see KL making an effort with the packaging , I am sure that the amount of waste generated each year must be immense and anything that helps reduce it is good .
[Edited 2010-03-03 14:04:38]
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
qqflyboy From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 2198 posts, RR: 14 Reply 11, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 3457 times:
At AA we do our best to recycle aluminum cans on domestic flights. The money earned from that goes to the Wings Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping flight attendants facing economic hardship due to illness or disaster. However, recycling facilities aren't set up everywhere, and in some cases it's prohibited (NYC). All trash from international arrivals is incinerated as per USFDA regulations. While recycling aluminum cans is a start, it isn't good enough. Much of what we have onboard is recyclable, including the plastic and styrofoam cups, newspapers and magazines. Much of this stuff is already separated onboard just for trash management, it's a shame it isn't recycled on the ground.
Fortunately, as the general public an corporations continue to embrace greener living, the airlines will be forced into better, more effective recycling programs, and that's a good thing.
Airlines, however, have made great strides in improving their environmental friendliness and decreasing their overall footprint. These initiatives include lowering the fuel consumption of a/c through several initiatives, replacing ground equipment with electric powered vehicles and even replacing lighting in hangars and parking facilities to lower energy use, just to name a few.
The views expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect my employer’s views.
KingAir200 From United States of America, joined May 2006, 1579 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 3419 times:
Now if we could just get all the paper we print to be recycled too. Do you remember back when NW used to print "Northwest Airlines recycles enough paper products in one year to fill 27 Boeing 747s" on some items?
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 13, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 3370 times:
F9 recycles all aluminum cans.
filler
filler and more filler.
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
ditzyboy From Australia, joined Feb 2008, 680 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 3320 times:
At Qantas we recycle cups, cans and bottles in Economy on a limited amount of domestic flights. It is done onboard during waste collection. While catering centres may recycle their own waste, any waste from the aircraft is not further sorted once it reaches catering.
Qantas cleaners in most ports separate and recycle the newspapers we offer. We previously asked customers to deposit them in a dedicated recycling bin in the gate lounge. Like most things we ask of our customers this was largely ignored.
Tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 3308 times:
Quoting dl767captain (Reply 2): That's pretty cool that DL got such a high score, i didn't think they were making it such a big deal. It's good to see, i mean the amount of plastic cups and aluminum cans used on every flight it should be recycled
I recall flying DL with the non-AVOD 757s several times that had the main cabin video playing on the CRTs and DL would always have this commercial playing within the entertainment video about how they recycle cans, bottles, and newspapers on every flight. They have separate bags that specify to each item for recycling. They call the commercial (at least in early 2009) "Delta is red, white, blue, and now green." Good for them.
Wonder why US and UA were so low?
Quoting qqflyboy (Reply 11): However, recycling facilities aren't set up everywhere, and in some cases it's prohibited (NYC).
Why is that exactly?
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 16, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 3301 times:
My guess would be too much clutter and wasted space. Or there is just no space for such facility considering it is NYC. Or maybe it is too expensive to do such operations?
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
qqflyboy From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 2198 posts, RR: 14 Reply 18, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 3199 times:
I wish I could remember the exact reason. AA has explained it to the flight attendants several times because it comes up from time to time why we don't recycle in New York. It has to do with state sanitation laws. What I find interesting is that if you live in one of the five boroughs of New York City, you are required to recycle, yet airlines are prohibited. Go figure. It has to do with a difference between local and state laws. AA makes an attempt to ship empty cans from NYC to other stations where recycling occurs, but I'm not sure how successful that is.
The views expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect my employer’s views.
Tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 19, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 3185 times:
Quoting qqflyboy (Reply 18): I wish I could remember the exact reason. AA has explained it to the flight attendants several times because it comes up from time to time why we don't recycle in New York. It has to do with state sanitation laws. What I find interesting is that if you live in one of the five boroughs of New York City, you are required to recycle, yet airlines are prohibited. Go figure. It has to do with a difference between local and state laws. AA makes an attempt to ship empty cans from NYC to other stations where recycling occurs, but I'm not sure how successful that is.
Thats whack. Probably has something to do with the mob controlling the waste management industry in NYC. They're more powerful than the Port Authority
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 20, posted (3 years 2 months 3 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 3130 times:
Quoting qqflyboy (Reply 18): AA makes an attempt to ship empty cans from NYC to other stations where recycling occurs, but I'm not sure how successful that is.
Does AA have any catering done in NYC? Or are the planes turned around without catering being done?
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
I bet if they made an effort to recycle in states with high deposit charges, they could make money, as aluminum cans are extremely light and wouldn't waste extra fuel
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
RB211LTN From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2004, 133 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (3 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2892 times:
I flew with Qantas last week ADL-MEL and MEL-SYD and they had a recycling programme for cups, bottles and cans. They gave you a little paper bag to put any non-recyclable rubbish in. I didn't need to use my bag as I shared with my seat-mate, I thought they might keep it and re-use it on the next flight. When I handed the crew the unused bag they threw it in the rubbish with all of the non-recyclable stuff. Good effort!
But seriously, the whole world is switching on to recycling and the airlines are lagging way behind, mostly through lack of willingness rather than local regulations. I know rubbish stowage in the galleys is limited but all it takes is a bit of thought. BA have cut back so much on the amount of food offered to their passengers that their galleys must be practically empty.
The customer is always right.....unless he is a passenger!
cgagn From Canada, joined Sep 2003, 345 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (3 years 2 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2876 times:
Quoting bmacleod (Reply 4): Sorry to see AC and WS have yet to launch a recycling program. Hopefully soon.
I just flew on WS the other day and the FAs said Westjet was a recycling airline and they came around and took cans, newspapers, bottles and such apart from the regular garbage.
C-GAGN
Widebodies flown on: A330-300,A340-300,A380-800,747-400,767-200ER,767-300ER,777-200A,777-200ER,777-200LR,777-300ER
25 nwaesc: Ain't that the truth! For years now, I've been trying to get them to "tailor" Y messages to be sent only to the printer necessary, yet every morning
26 ditzyboy: These bags come in sealed packs of 50 and once the pack is opened any bags remaining in the carts are not returned into stock at the catering centre.
27 qqflyboy: The vast majority of flights leaving JFK/LGA are catered locally. The only exceptions may be a/c that come from other hubs and turn around back to th
28 longhauler: AC, and previously Canadian Airlines have been recycling for more than 15 years! Both in the office environment, as well as on aircraft. One of the b
29 mayor: Not just "will take this seriously", but have taken it seriously, for quite a few years. I'm not sure how extensive the program is, systemwide, but t
30 nwaesc: Good to hear. {quote]I'm not sure how extensive the program is, systemwide, but they need to also recycle the old and unused Sky mags as well as the
31 KingAir200: They do at my station. I'd love to get them recycled, but we currently have no program in place to do that, as the only thing we recycle is bottles a
32 MtnWest1979: Just don't try to get it back in Oregon. Personal recyclers have to place almost pristine cans in a machine behind various (mainly) grocery stores on
33 nwaesc: LOL. Yep. I've been gone from Or. for awhile, but I used to just cash out, keep recycling, and then take in 2-3 receipts... It used to be lightning q
34 hestaman: I was recently on a UA flight DEN-HNL. They were recycling on that flight for sure. The FA actually seemed annoyed when I accidentally put the can in
35 mayor: I'm guessing the allotment is based on the mags being replaced each time that the plane is cleaned, but we all know that doesn't happen, especially o
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