Emirates has made a network-wide commitment to reduce single-use plastics on board its aircraft
Emirates has made a network-wide commitment to reduce single-use plastics on board its aircraft. As of June 1st, eco-friendly paper straws have been introduced and all Emirates flights will soon be plastic straw-free.
The airline has been working on various long-term sustainability initiatives. In addition to plastic straws, plastic swizzle sticks and stirrers will also be replaced with eco-friendly alternatives by the end of the year. From August, plastic bags used for Inflight Retail purchases will also be replaced with paper bags. These initiatives will remove an estimated 81.7 million single-use plastic items from landfill each year.
Eco-friendly paper straws have been introduced this month
Trials have been conducted on Emirates flights to explore various recycling initiatives on board and Emirates staff and cabin crew constantly give feedback and suggestions on other environmentally friendly ideas. As part of its long-term vision and fuelled by a cabin crew member’s suggestion, the airline has been segregating large plastic bottles on board to be recycled in Dubai and the rest of the world. This diverts an estimated 3 tonnes or about 150,000 plastic bottles from landfill in Dubai each month.
A full review of the plastics on board has been conducted and over the next few months, the airline will gradually implement other initiatives to tackle plastic waste.
The initiatives are part of the airline’s ongoing sustainability efforts. In 2017, Emirates introduced ecoTHREAD™ blankets made from recycled plastic bottles for its Economy Class cabin. Each blanket is made from 28 recycled plastic bottles and by the end of this year, Emirates would have saved 88 million plastic bottles from landfill from this initiative alone.
Emirates has introduced new sustainable blankets made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
Emirates has introduced new sustainable blankets made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The soft and warm blankets are made using ecoTHREAD™ patented technology and is now available in Economy Class on all long-haul Emirates flights.
Each Emirates ecoTHREAD™ blanket is made from 28 recycled plastic bottles. With the latest innovation, the bottles are recycled into plastic chips before being turned into yarn, creating a polar fleece material. The fine thread is then woven into soft blankets.
The environmentally-friendly blankets were designed in partnership with Buzz, the world’s leading inflight product specialists, and are part of Emirates’ continued commitment to product innovation and sustainability. Emirates already runs a green programme on board recycling aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles, and clean paper products such as newspapers, magazines and cardboard cartons where possible.
By the end of 2019, Emirates ecoTHREAD™ blankets would have rescued 88 million plastic bottles from landfills– equivalent to the weight of 44 A380 aircraft. This initiative makes it the largest sustainable blanket programme on board in the airline industry. In addition, the manufacturing process of using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) reduces energy emissions by 70%.
ecoTHREAD™ is certified with the Intertek Green Leaf Mark by third party testing and certification body Intertek, independently verified to use 100% recycled materials.
The Emirates ecoTHREAD™ blanket for Economy Class completes the recent comforter overhaul across all three classes. The airline introduced a plush, faux sheep-skin blanket in First Class and soft duvets in Business Class.
In the last year, Emirates has added several new products for customers travelling in Economy including the world’s first interactive amenity kits. The amenity kits - filled with necessities such as an eye mask, earplugs, toothbrush and toothpaste, and socks – uses augmented reality technology to unlock entertainment on customers’ mobile devices using the Blippar app. The content was refreshed last month to feature a new interactive game called The Emirates Destination Dash to keep customers’ busy on long-haul flights or on the ground.
Emirates Economy Class cabins are also equipped with the largest in-seat screens in the world in Economy at 13.3 inches and more than 2,500 channels of on-demand entertainment on the award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice Digital Widescreen.
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