Qantas is going to war on waste with a pledge to reuse, recycle and compost at least 75% of general waste by the end of 2021.
The airline says it handles about 30,000 tonnes of waste annually and wants to reduce the impact of this with a number of new initiatives.
Changes planned during this year across Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar include the use of coffee cups that can be recycled or composted, eliminating single-use plastics, and going digital to eliminate paper based boarding passes and operational manuals.
It also plans to recycle old uniforms and increase the donation or composting of food.
"Few industries can eradicate waste completely, but with this program we’re saying that avoidable waste should no longer be an acceptable by-product of how we do business. This isn’t just the right thing to do, it is good for business and will put us ahead of legislative requirements," said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.
It is targeting the removal of 100 million single use plastic items including replacing 45 million plastic cups, 30 million cutlery sets, 21 million coffee cups and 4 million headrest covers with sustainable alternatives by the end of 2020.
"We’ll be asking for help from our people, customers, suppliers and regulators to help us reach this goal," Joyce added.
