Recycling Best Practices—A Guidebook for Advancing Recycling from Aircraft Cabins (2013)

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17 Recycling is more efficient and effective when service items—including beverage cups, con- tainers, and food packaging—are designed and purchased with recycling in mind. Airlines, air- ports, and flight kitchens with successful recycling programs are integrating environmental and sustainability criteria into the procurement process to support recycling of service items and to meet growing customer demand for green services. In this guidebook, service items include durable and disposable cups, napkins, utensils, snack boxes and wrappers, and other materials distributed to airline passengers dur- ing food and beverage service. Service items also include items used in service but not distributed to passengers, such as bulk juice or water containers as well as aluminum beverage cans. Airports with bold recycling commitments are working with concessionaires located in ter- minals to support greener purchasing practices that align with airport and airline recycling programs and that reduce waste. Major industry suppliers have expanded their selection of recycled-content, recyclable, compostable, and other environmentally preferable service items. In recent years, cost and performance of environmentally preferable products have greatly improved due to substantial increases in demand and technology innovations. Why Is This Practice Important? Airlines, airports, and flight kitchens purchasing recycled-content, recyclable, compo- stable, and other environmentally responsible service items are experiencing benefits such as the following: • Lowering waste disposal costs as more materials can be shifted from the waste container to the recycling (or compost) container • Reducing product costs and contributing to the development of better-performing products and a greater variety of environmentally responsible product options offered by suppliers • “Closing the loop” by increasing the supply of materials to make recycled-content service items and demonstrating demand by purchasing them Best Practice #2. Make Purchasing Choices that Facilitate Recycling and Reduce Waste

18 Recycling Best Practices—A Guidebook for Advancing Recycling from Aircraft Cabins Key Steps to Green Purchasing This section explains four steps to making purchasing choices that facilitate recycling and reduce waste for airlines, airports, and flight kitchens: 1. Consider recyclable, compostable, or waste-reducing service item options. 2. Test environmentally preferable products and develop specifications for procurement. 3. Share best practices with others. 4. Support procurement departments in incorporating green purchasing. Step 1: Consider Recyclable, Compostable, or Waste-Reducing Service Item Options Airlines, airports, and flight kitchens with successful recycling programs work collaboratively with suppliers and peers to explore service item options that are designed to be recycled, com- posted, reused, or that use less material altogether, resulting in less waste. Some purchasing stan- dards reference independent certifications to inform product choices, such as Biodegradable Product Institute (BPI)–certified compostable products. Airlines and flight kitchens can work with airports and waste and recycling contractors to ensure that specific products are recyclable at most or all locations. Some airports support airlines, flight kitchens, and concessions located in their terminals by providing resources on recyclable and compostable products. Table 3 shows examples of products with various envi- ronmental features. Southwest Airlines replaced its Styrofoam™ coffee cup with a paper cup containing 12 percent post-consumer recycled content. Southwest is actively working with its national recycling contractor to identify recycling options for the 14 million cups used each year. Feature Examples Notes Recycled Content Napkins, paperboard, selected beverage packaging containers Look for post-consumer recycled-content products and paper products containing at least 30 percent recycled content. Recyclable Newspaper, cardboard, most beverage containers, mixed paper, selected beverage cups Check with local recyclers, as markets vary by region, and determine which items can be accepted for recycling. Compostable Napkins, selected beverage cups, selected utensils If you are separating materials for composting, look for BPI-certified products and make sure your compost processor accepts them. Reusable Headsets, service ware Offer reusable headsets for in-flight entertainment. Where feasible, serve meals with durable service ware, including dishware and utensils. Less Waste In-flight snack packs, beverage service Minimize separate or duplicative packaging of snack pack contents. Consider bulk dispensing for beverage service. Table 3. Environmentally preferable purchasing guidelines.

Best Practice #2. Make Purchasing Choices that Facilitate Recycling and Reduce Waste 19 Step 2: Test Environmentally Preferable Products and Develop Specifications for Procurement Airlines and flight kitchens can engage in test runs to ensure that products meet performance standards before adopting new products. Major suppliers often offer cost breaks for products used during trial periods. Airlines and flight kitchens can solicit feedback on service items throughout their organiza- tion, including from employees and customers. Suppliers may be able to work with product manufacturers to improve the design and performance of specific service items. Ideally, airlines and flight kitchens work together with suppliers to improve product avail- ability and quality and to drive down unit costs. Airlines and flight kitchens can also establish green purchasing cooperatives to achieve these goals. Based on the results of the testing process, organizations can develop product specifications and integrate them into procurement requests for proposals and contracts. Airports can work with recyclers to ensure that service items are recyclable or compostable in local markets. Dale Reighter, Los Angeles Area General Manager for LSG Sky Chefs, notes, “Our pro- curement department is ready and able to help clients investigate and source recyclable and compostable products for flights. We also see opportunities for our airline customers to use lightweight alternatives and scale provisioning amounts to the number of pas- sengers onboard.” Step 3: Share Best Practices with Others Airlines, airports, and flight kitchens that successfully transition to environmentally preferable products can share their experiences, lessons learned, and recommendations with their colleagues and across the industry. In addition to peer-to-peer communications, organizations can present information at conferences and in industry publications sponsored by industry groups, such as Airports Council International (ACI), American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and Airlines for America (A4A). Airports, airlines, and flight kitchens can share new product offerings and features with pas- sengers through the following: • In-flight menu cards and service item descriptions in in-flight magazines • Frequent-flyer emails and newsletter updates • Information printed on individual service items • The general media Step 4: Support the Procurement Department in Incorporating Green Purchasing Airlines and flight kitchens can support procurement personnel in taking green purchas- ing to the next level for in-flight service items as well as for all products procured for business operations.

20 Recycling Best Practices—A Guidebook for Advancing Recycling from Aircraft Cabins An example is for environmental managers to offer purchasing managers training and tools for assessing the total costs of specific products, from procurement through disposal. Total cost accounting is a way to consider the cost of a product throughout its use and disposal—adding recycling and disposal costs to the factors already considered, such as pur- chase price, transportation, labor, storage, weight and jet-fuel implications, and suitability for altitude changes. Airlines and flight kitchens can provide purchasing staff with educational training and tools to estimate, assess, and compare products based on total costs throughout their use and disposal. Recycling Beyond In-Flight Service Instead of being disposed of in landfills, old floor coverings from American Airlines’ jets are being recycled into new carpet and installed on new Boeing aircraft manufactured near Seattle. American Airlines donates used pillows and blankets to homeless shelters. Old carpet from planes is also provided to animal shelters, while old aircraft windows are made into polycarbonate pellets for manufacturing into new products.