June 5th is World Food Day.technology of the United Nations and this year's theme is #BeatPlasticPollution. Many companies have taken the opportunity to announce new projects, in a common effort to become more sustainable in their activities. One of them is Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, which from XNUMX June will engage in a closed-loop recycling initiative whereby thousands of on-board catering utensils will be made from recycled materials.
Emirates: 25% of in-flight catering utensils made from recycled plastic
To comply with the principles of the circular economy (reduce, reuse, recycle), the airline will ensure that 25% of in-flight catering utensils are made from recycled plastic. This way, after flights, millions of plates, bowls and trays used by Emirates' catering services will be collected, cleaned and inspected for damage before being sent to a facility in Dubai to become new products which will then be sent back to the catering services.
This initiative is in line with those of recent years, in which Emirates has partnered with more companies to try to accelerate its transition to sustainable. Especially with deSter FZE UAE, a service provider to the aviation industry focused on closed-loop manufacturing. It is precisely this collaboration that will allow Emirates to continue its journey towards the transition to renewable energy, sustainability while maintaining affordability.
Emirates: previous experiences to reduce the use of plastic
The airline has previously replaced plastic straws, inflight retail bags and spoons with ones made from sustainably harvested paper and wood, ditching more than 150 million single-use plastic items from landfills each year.
The hygienic bowl lids of the food trays provided on flights, as well as the plastic cups, straws and bags for sale on board are made from 80% recycled plastic and the amenity packets are made from recycled plastic, kraft paper, rice paper and other environmentally friendly components. In this way less plastic is consumed and in 2022 around 500.000 kg of plastic and glass were prevented from ending up in landfills.
