The Australian flag carrier has pledged to eliminate single-use plastics, recycle old uniforms, and compost food.
Photo: Qantas
In light of the global move towards sustainability, Qantas has announced its plans to become the world’s first airline to recycle and compost at least 75 percent of its general waste by the end of 2021.
To achieve that goal, the Australian flag carrier will remove over 100 million single-use plastics items from its flights and lounges by the end of 2020.
Changes to be implemented across Qantas, QantasLink, and Jetstar include using coffee cups that can be recycled and composted; removing unnecessary paper, such as boarding passes and operational manuals, by going digital; increasing donation or composting of food; as well as the recycling of old cabin crew uniforms.
In addition, 45 million plastic cups, 30 million cutlery sets, 21 million coffee cups, and four million headrest covers will be replaced with sustainable alternatives by the end of 2020.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said: “In the process of carrying 50 million people each year, we deal with more than 30,000 tons of waste. That’s the same weight as about eighty 747 jumbos.”
“It is quite literally a waste and we have a responsibility to our customers, shareholders and the community to reduce it.”
More information here.
