Emirates has revealed a new closed-loop recycling initiative that will collect used onboard items such as plastic, trays, bowls, snack and casserole dishes, to remake them into Emirates ready-to-use meal service products. The recycled utensils are already in use.
This initiative uses the principles of circular economy – items are reused and recycled, reducing waste. New products to be used on aircraft flying internationally will contain at least 25% reused material initially and this percentage will increase over time.
Millions of meal service products are collected from economy and premium economy class dining after flights, to be washed and checked for damage, before transporting them to a recycling facility in Dubai where they will be ground down, reprocessed and manufactured into new trays, bowls and dishes to be sent to Emirates Flight Catering.
Emirates’ commitment to reducing plastic waste has included initiatives such as replacing plastic straws and retail bags with paper and wooden alternatives, using passenger blankets made of 28 recycled bottles, repurposing plastic bottles for toy bags, baby amenity kits, plush toys and hygiene covers, using craft paper, rice paper and more recycled plastic for economy and premium economy amenity kits, and by dividing and recycling glass and plastic bottles from flights.
