A typical Qantas flight from Syndey to Adelaide would produce 34 kilograms of waste. This morning’s flight on the same route produced zilch – making it the first commercial flight to produce absolutely no landfill.
All inflight products on board the two-hour flight are being composted, reused or recycled.
Qantas said it marked the start of their goal to cut 100 million single-use plastics by end-2020 and eliminate 75% of the airline’s waste by end-2021.
Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David revealed that in the process of carrying over 50 million people every year, Qantas and Jetstar produce an amount of waste equivalent to 80 fully-laden Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
“We want to give customers the same level of service they currently enjoy, but without the amount of waste that comes with it.”
Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David
“This flight is about testing our products, refining the waste process and getting feedback from our customers”.
About 1000 single-use plastic items were substituted with sustainable alternatives or removed altogether. This meant saying goodbye to individually-packaged servings of vegemite.
Instead, meal containers were made from sugar cane and cutlery made from crop starch.
Customers used digital boarding passes and electronic bag tags where possible, with staff on hand to make sure any paper passes and tags were disposed of sustainably.
The Qantas lounges at Sydney Airport’s domestic terminal also went green for the flight, with multiple waste streams in use.
In its effort to remove 100 million single-use plastic items every year by the end of 2020, Qantas and Jetstar will replace 45 million plastic cups, 30 million cutlery sets, 21 million coffee cups and 4 million headrest covers with sustainable alternatives.
Today’s zero waste flight will be 100% carbon offset.
- READ: GREENER TRAVEL: Australia’s first plastic-free flight touches down on Earth Day
- READ: TOODLES PLASTIC: Contiki, Trafalgar & more remove single-use plastic bottles from coaches