Qantas has commenced the first commercial flight to produce no landfill waste, marking the start of Qantas’ plan to cut 100 million single-use plastics by the end of 2020.
All inflight products on board the QF739, flying from Sydney to Adelaide, were disposed of using the methods - compost, reuse or recycling.
Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David said the trial flight was an important milestone for the national carrier’s plan to slash waste.
“In the process of carrying over 50 million people every year, Qantas and Jetstar currently produce an amount of waste equivalent to 80 fully-laden Boeing 747 jumbo jets,” David said.
“We want to give customers the same level of service they currently enjoy, but without the amount of waste that comes with it.”
This flight would typically produce 34 kilograms of waste – with the Sydney to Adelaide route producing 150 tonnes of waste annually, the company said.
Approximately 1,000 single-use plastic items were substituted with sustainable alternatives or removed altogether from the flight.
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.