The news follows data from the International Air Transport Association revealing that “the global industry generated 5.2 million tonnes of inflight waste in 2016” alone.
Predicting that Project Green, which focuses solely on Air New Zealand’s international flights arriving at Auckland, will “divert 150 tonnes of waste from landfill annually," the companies claim that “13 tonnes, including 266,000 plastic cups, 480 kg of sugar packets and 3.5 tonnes of bottled water” were diverted in its first month of launching.
What’s more, the scheme has also enabled 40 Air New Zealand inflight products previously sent to landfill due to biosecurity controls, including sealed beverages and unopened snacks, to be reclassified so they can now be re-used on future flights if removed from aircrafts “sealed and untouched.”
Christopher Luxo, Air New Zealand’s chief executive officer, said: “We’ve spent considerable time auditing our inflight waste to gain a better understanding of how we can improve our handling processes.
“By collaborating with LSG Sky Chefs and MPI, we’ve been able to make significant gains - we’re incredibly encouraged by the early data we’re seeing.”
LSG Sky Chefs New Zealand general manager, Pieter Harting, added: “Our role in Project Green is to ensure items taken off aircraft are sorted correctly and meet the standards we’ve agreed with MPI and Air New Zealand, before reloading trolleys with approved items for the next service. It’s been an exciting journey for us, requiring a big culture shift and getting our people onboard with new ways of working.”
The companies claim that they are “looking at how they can further expand the range of unused products that can safely be recovered, and at developing a more precise approach to analysing collection data to ensure aircrafts are catered more accurately.”