These initiatives include switching from diesel to renewably powered electric pushback vehicles and removing weight from the aircraft by introducing lighter seats and trollies. In addition, they’ve made inflight magazine and flight manuals digital, minimising the paper on board.
Reducing food waste also means less pressure on natural resources, water supplies and land where food is grown, as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions from production. Behind the scenes, British Airways is working to influence UK government policy and regulation to allow more sustainable ways to divert food waste from landfill and incineration.
They are focused on reducing waste and ensuring that, where it is unavoidable it is disposed of responsibly, minimising the use of landfill and incineration and increasing re-use and recycling. They segregate recyclable materials on board including glass, plastic bottles, newspapers and cans on inbound flights. They recycle or re-use 50% of non-catering waste from Heathrow and Gatwick operations and send less than one percent of non-catering waste to our Heathrow and Gatwick operations to landfill.
In January 2021, British Airways unveiled their new Speedbird Café pre-order menu for customers in Euro Traveller, which allows customers to customise their journey by purchasing food and drink before departure. This helps them to cater correctly for what the customers want and helps reduce food waste on their short-haul routes. Surplus food and blankets are also donated to charity, including a local wildlife rescue project.
