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For Immediate Release
February, 18 2010, 08:47am EDT
Contact:
Leslie Anderson, (703) 276-3256 or landerson@hastingsgroup.com
New Airline Recycling Rankings: United and US Airways Flunk, While Delta, Virgin, and Southwest Get Best Grades, According to ResponsibleShopper.org
US Airlines Generate Over 880 Million Tons of Waste Annually -- 75 Percent of Which Could Be Recycled,but Only 20 Percent Is; Consumers Urged to Factor Recycling Policies Into Air Travel Decisions.
WASHINGTON
Which airlines are taking steps to reduce the
vast amount of waste generated each year by the industry? Delta,
Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest are doing the best job,
according to the new report "What Goes Up Must Go Down: The Sorry State
of Recycling in the Airline Industry" from Green America's consumer
watchdog Web site ResponsibleShopper.org (https://www.ResponsibleShopper.org). The report also shows that United and US Airways are doing the worst job when it comes to recycling.
Overall,
airlines could recycle nearly 500 million more tons of waste each year
(including 250 million tons 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.
Green
America Responsible Shopper Lead Researcher Victoria Kreha said: "For
concerned consumers looking to spend their travel dollars wisely,
airline waste may be the ultimate example of 'what goes up must come
down.' The good news is that airlines are starting to pay attention to
recycling; the bad news is that they have a long way to go to improve
the situation. Fortunately, airlines can overcome any of the
challenges to creating in-flight recycling programs, including employee
education and involvement, knowledge of the type of waste produced, and
a time- and space-efficient system."
Green
America Corporate Responsibility Director Todd Larsen said: "While
airlines may face some challenges in creating effective recycling
programs, evidence shows that working systems can be implemented. Our
report demonstrates that several airlines are significantly ahead of
their competitors in taking these steps, and it is clear that
comprehensive recycling programs can be implemented effectively and
economically."
The report looks at
five areas: variety in waste recycled, future in-flight recycling
plans, size of in-flight recycling program, education/encouragement of
employees in onboard recycling programs, other in-flight sustainability
initiatives, and provides overall rankings. Industry-wide
ResponsibleShopper.org finds that there is room for tremendous
improvement and no airline received higher than a B- grade overall.
Nearly
75 percent of in-flight generated waste is recyclable; however only
about 20 percent actually is recycled. According to research published
by the Natural Resource Defense Council, annually, airlines throw away
9,000 tons of plastic, enough aluminum cans to build 58 Boeing 747
jets, and enough newspaper and magazines to cover a football field 230
meters deep. The energy savings from recycling this waste would
represent a contribution by the airlines to reducing their
environmental impact in the face of the considerable climate impact of
jet fuel, including 600 million tons of carbon dioxide per year pumped
into the atmosphere by commercial jets alone.
Beyond
the environmental benefits, recycling this waste would create jobs
nationwide, since according to Colorado Recycles, recycling creates six
times as many jobs as landfilling
In
addition to the overall dismal recycling policies of the airlines,
Green America's on-flight research identified that some airlines are
not actually implementing their stated policies in the air. As a
result, Green America is calling on passengers nationwide to
respectfully ask flight attendants if materials on their specific
flights are being recycled, and to report their findings to Green
America at
https://www.greenamericatoday.org/takeaction/airline/airline_recycling.cfm.
The full Airline recycling report is available at https://www.greenamericatoday.org/go/AirlineRecyclingReport/
Contact information for all of the airlines is available in the report
for passengers wishing to contact airlines to request that they improve
their recycling practices.
Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982 and known until January 1, 2009 as "Co-op America." Green America's mission is to harness economic power--the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace--to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
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After returning from a delegation trip to Cuba, US Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson on Sunday renewed calls for President Donald Trump to end his illegal fuel blockade of the island, which they described as "cruel collective punishment."
The pair of progressive lawmakers were the first to visit the island since Trump imposed the blockade in January in a bid to cripple the island's economy as part of an effort to overthrow its government, or, in the president's words, "take" the island.
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The oil blockade is an escalation of more than 60 years of punitive economic warfare by the US against Cuba, imposed through an embargo that has limited Cuba's ability to trade with the rest of the world and hampered its economic development to the tune of trillions of dollars.
Jayapal had previously visited Cuba in February 2024 on a trip with other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Since her last time in Havana, she said, "There's such a big difference."
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She said the phrase "collective punishment," while accurate, almost felt "too technocratic" to describe what she witnessed.
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The United Nations General Assembly has voted 33 times to call for the end of the embargo since 1993.
In February, a group of UN experts condemned Trump's fuel blockade as "a serious violation of international law and a grave threat to a democratic and equitable international order" and an "extreme form of unilateral economic coercion."
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has acknowledged having talks with Trump in recent weeks in order to negotiate an end to the embargo and threats of further aggression.
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While hardly softening his threats to Cuba, which he continued to insist was “finished,” Trump last week allowed a Russian oil tanker to dock on the island without incident and deliver around 700,000 barrels of much-needed oil.
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Jayapal said that when they spoke with Diaz-Canel, he expressed "a real desire for a real negotiation" with the US, but that he also expressed "sadness" and "frustration" at what was being done to his country.
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Jackson—whose father, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, took many trips to Cuba during his life—described America's treatment of the nation’s people as a “crucifixion.”
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In late March, Jayapal introduced legislation that would block Trump from conducting military action against Cuba without congressional authorization. She said she'd continue to push for bills to block Trump from launching a war and to push for sanctions relief.
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US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the lone Iranian American in Congress, noted that Sharif University has "produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies."
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Another outrageous, criminal act in an illegal war: U.S.-Israeli strikes have bombed one of the world’s most prestigious universities in Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. This was a center of learning, not a military target. The increasing use of the Gaza playbook in… pic.twitter.com/GE6J8WhgMC
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Vira Ameli, an Iranian global health researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford, decried the US-Israeli strike on Sharif University, where she spent time as a postdoctoral fellow.
"To wake to the news of this war crime, at a distance and unable to return, is difficult to articulate," Ameli wrote. "And yet history has made one thing clear: Iran is not a country undone by bombardment."
Iranian authorities say US-Israeli attacks have hit at least 30 of the nation's universities, including the Isfahan University of Technology and the Iran University of Science and Technology. The US and Israel have justified some of the attacks by claiming the universities were involved in military-related activities.
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According to a Monday report from the Times, the video directly contradicts claims made by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials that they were attacked by assailants armed with a shovel and a broom for around three minutes before the agents opened fire and wounded one of the attackers.
"Instead, the confrontation depicted in the video lasts about 12 seconds and shows two men struggling with the agent," reported the Times. "It shows no sustained attack with a shovel."
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