Every year, US-based airlines throw away aluminium cans enough to build 58 new Boeing 747 jets

It sounds incredible, but airlines based in the United States discard aluminium cans every year that are sufficient to build 58 new Boeing 747 jets!

The Trash Landings report, prepared by the Natural Resources Defence Council, headquartered in New York City, the United States, also found that US-based airlines disposed of 9,000 tonnes of plastic a year, and enough newspapers and magazines to fill a football field over 230 metres deep.

That’s not all. Each US passenger left behind about 600 grams of rubbish. And, despite three-quarters of this waste being recyclable or compostible, most of it ends up in landfill.

The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), founded in 1970, is non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington, DC; San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. It lobbies members of US Congress and other public officials for a public policy that promotes conservation of the natural environment. The NRDC, which has 1.2 million members and online activists across the United States, works against urban spread-out, pollution, and habitat destruction, and promotes actions to alleviate global warming and increase the use of renewable energy. Sometimes it files suit in federal court against corporations and government agencies for violations of the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act.

Dr Allen Hershkowitz, a senior Scientist at the Natural Resource Defence Council, said: “Some airports and the carriers that use wastes are finding creative solutions that pay significant financial dividends while reducing their environmental footprint. Along with a huge amount of recyclable waste, the airline industry is throwing away a significant amount of money.”

According to the Trash Landings report, airports in the United States collectively  generated 425,000 tons of waste in 2004 – a figure expected to increase nearly 45%  by the year 2015.

Today, each passenger leaves behind 1.3 pounds of trash, the researchers found, and 75% of this waste is recyclable or compostible. Yet the industry-wide recycling rate is 20% or less, which is one-third less than the US average as a whole.

Dr Allen Hershkowitz explained: “Once airport managers start adding up the numbers, opportunities start becoming apparent pretty quickly. The good news is that smart people in the aviation business have figured this out. Their savings are going right to the bottom line, instead of to the local landfill.”

The Natural Resources Defence Council found that savings by airlines can pile up quickly – to over $100,000 a year at each of the four airports in the study that have recycling programmes.

According to the Trash Landings report, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – perhaps the leader in the United States in airport recycling efforts – is saving almost $180,000 annually, with more yet to come. The Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) cut costs by around $15,000 a month through recycling.

For its study, the Natural Resource Defence Council examined 30 airports across the United States.

The study identifies opportunities and barriers. It also highlights top performers in recycling as examples for other facilities to follow:

• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) uses both conventional and creative ways to cut its waste. For example, airport vendors generate up to seven tons of used coffee wastes each month. Airport managers discovered they could cut costs by 75% – or, $60 a ton – by sending the leftovers to a compost facility instead of the dump. Sea-Tac also sends 1,000 gallons of used cooking grease each month to a company which makes it into diesel fuel, thus saving the $100 a ton it cost for disposal at a rendering plant.
• By putting all its waste up for bid under one contract and by increasing its recycling efforts, the airport authority at Oakland International Airport, California, has been able to negotiate lower waste management fees for the airlines. Costs have decreased for one airline from $7,700 a month to $2,500, and monthly costs another airline have fallen from $2,300 to $1,000. Southwest Airlines allows the local staff at Oakland International Airport to keep the revenues generated from the sale of recyclables to fund employee barbecues, special events and a discretionary ‘rainy day’ fund for employee assistance. Southwest saves money by avoiding waste disposal fees, and the employees benefit as well.