FORMIA's carbon-free amenity kits
This is a special feature from PAX International’s September 2023 IFSA EXPO issue on page 46.
FORMIA has partnered with one of its US airline customers to develop the world’s first carbon-neutral amenity kit. Though not yet announced, the FORMIA team is looking forward to sharing the
specific news later this year. In the meantime, the company wanted to share some more information with PAX International on the recent journey it took with its client, and suppliers other sustainability partners to achieve this milestone.
The process unfolded in five steps:
- Designed from start with sustainability in mind — the first step on the journey was to design a kit from the bottom up. Material selection included migration away from virgin materials to renewable and recycled content such as bamboo, recycled PET and recycled aluminum. Weight was an important factor. FORMIA has light- weighted the products to contribute to minimized fuel burn. Take-home appeal is provided through the locally-inspired design and the reusable functionality of the kits.
- Enhanced service delivery model — an important factor in sustainability and customer experience is re-thinking the provisioning of products and how customers use them. Together with its client, FORMIA addressed both sustainability and customer preference by migrating some items to “a-la-carte,” which reduced waste for unwanted items and gives customers the flexibility to take what they need.
- Full lifecycle analysis (LCA) — after mapping out the flow of product, FORMIA performed a deep-dive on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions with help from its partner, the REBEL Group, who are experts in quantifying environmental impact. The ISO 14067 aligned LCA covers the lifecycle from cradle to grave — raw material extraction through production to usage onboard, all the way to the end of life of the kits. FORMIA utilized over 280 data points for all products to measure the current environmental impact. Through the duration of the contract, FORMIA plans to continue to analyze and use data to optimize the product design and supply chain to reduce the carbon footprint even further.
- Carbon management plan and targeted “insetting” — FORMIA’S focus on decarbonizing did not stop there. The company built out a detailed carbon management plan that looked at each step in the product life cycle to identify continuous improvement strategies to further reduce the carbon footprint including further improving the material selection, optimizing the provisioning of the amenities, leveraging renewable energy for production and transportation and further improving end-of-life treatment of kits. FORMIA’s commitment is to constantly refine processes and leverage new technology to directly reduce the footprint of the kit through sustainable practices.
- Third-party carbon-neutral certification — after exhausting all current strategies to minimize the carbon footprint of the kit through design, material selection, supply chain optimization and further “insetting,” FORMIA worked with its client to identify relevant carbon offsetting programs aligned with the airline’s own programs that neutralize the remaining carbon footprint to achieve carbon-neutrality. Throughout this process, FORMIA worked with a 3rd-party certification organization, SCS Global, to verify its life-cycle analysis, approve a carbon management plan and complete the carbon-neutral certification. This allows every kit to have a certification stamp that indicates the kit is certified carbon-neutral. The amenity program will be re-certified each year to ensure continuous improvements have been made — and can be communicated — on the program.
FORMIA is proud of the work that it has done to create the world’s first carbon-neutral amenity kit and hopes that the project inspires other airlines to take a similar approach.
