Environmental Management: Recycling is not just Recycling
The LSG Sky Chefs environmental management system has been in place for over 20 years, and both the reduction of waste and recycling have been an essential part of it from the very beginning.
When at home, it is quite easy to recycle and dispose of materials such as paper/carton, glass or other packaging sufficiently. At LSG Sky Chefs, the level of waste that needs to be separated and the volume of materials that can be recycled differ considerably from country to country, depending on local legislation and the waste management infrastructure available. So for us recycling is not just recycling; we need to follow certain rules.
Recycling on the ground
For LSG Sky Chefs, newspapers, magazines, cardboard boxes from deliveries, aluminum and Tetra beverage cans, plastic foils, wooden pallets, and cooking oil, are all recyclable types of waste. However, all these items can be recycled only if they have not come into contact with food.
Recycling items that were in the air
Due to logistical reasons, for most airline catering companies it is difficult to distinguish between items that were onboard international, European or domestic flights. Moreover, to prevent certain animal diseases from crossing borders, most countries have veterinarian regulations. These require from caterers to:
- either incinerate or deposit on safe landfills all food leftovers and disposable items that may have been contaminated with food (incl. all types of packaging)
- disinfect all rotable items (cutlery / crockery / bins / trays / trolleys etc.) by dishwashing.
At LSG Sky Chefs we make sure to recycle as many materials as possible. But we do not stop there; we also support airlines by training crews on how to correctly store equipment, which allows, for example, for unused plastic or paper cups to be used on another flight without reserve.
Did you know that in our North America region we have a “Zero to Landfill” project in place? Click here to learn more about this.
Kind regards,
Walter