Airline Recycling Rankings

Airline passengers create 881 million pounds of waste per year (half of it in-flight), and much of it is not recycled.  In the report What Goes Up Must Come Down, The Sorry State of Recycling in the Airline Industry, Green America ranks 11 major airlines on their recycling efforts and offers actions the industry can take to improve recycling overall.  They also offer actions that airline passengers can take to improve recycling.

Overall, airlines could recycle nearly 500 million more pounds of waste each year (including 250 million pounds of in-flight waste).  While airlines acknowledge the importance of recycling waste, no airline recycles all the major recyclables: aluminum cans, glass, plastic, and paper.  No airline has a comprehensive program for minimizing or composting food waste or waste from snack packages, provides good public information about their recycling program, or reports out on progress in relation to any stated goals.  In addition, all airlines provide over-packaged snacks and meals and none of the airlines are working with manufacturers to reduce this waste.

The Green America airline recycling rankings are (from best to worst): Delta Airlines, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Southwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, Jet Blue, American Airlines, British Airways, Air Tran, United Airlines, and US Airways. 

Read the full report, and then sign the petition demanding that the airlines do better.