The ASF announces partnership to reduce cabin waste
The Aviation Sustainability Forum (ASF) announced a partnership today with Stonehaven and Robertsbridge that will bolster the ASF’s sustainability capabilities and help drive plans to reduce cabin waste, standardize materials and improve circularity.
As part of the next phase of its plans, the ASF will work with major trade associations and the Stonehaven and Robertsbridge teams to help drive the campaign to tackle the impact of International Cabin Waste (ICW). The aim is to find solutions that limit the millions of tonnes of waste generated on international flights each year—waste that is an often-overlooked contributor to the global aviation industry’s emissions.
With aviation now in full post-pandemic recovery and levels of ICW again increasing, the ASF is working to address the millions of tonnes of waste generated a year by adopting standards for the entire sector. These standards will support the industry governing bodies to present the case for regulation change which currently requires millions of tonnes of cabin waste to be incinerated or committed to landfill every year, the January 17 release said.
“As aviation returns to pre-pandemic levels, the need for sustainable inflight product and service solutions is more vital than ever,” Matt Crane, Founding Partner of the ASF, said in the release. “The ASF is committed to working with its members and the teams at Stonehaven and Robertsbridge in London and Singapore to reduce ICW and drive long-term sustainability within the sector.”
Crane continued: “These commitments, however, are only as good as the support and backing they get from the entirety of the aviation supply chain, which is why we’re inviting aviation leaders to join the ASF and pledge their support for reducing ICW.”
The ASF highlighted in the release that collaboration across the global aviation supply chain is essential to mitigate the issue of international cabin waste. In 2023, it will strive to bring new members from the inflight services industry together to develop sustainable solutions and standards whilst campaigning to overcome regulatory and policy barriers currently hindering progress.
Peter Lyburn, CEO and Founder of Stonehaven, said: “We are confident that the work we do together will be instrumental in helping reduce the environmental impact of ICW and make a lasting impact on the industry.”
The new partnership follows the publication of ASF’s preliminary report in 2021, “The Case for Standardisation of Disposable Food and Beverage Service”, which highlighted the need for the aviation inflight product and services supply chain to come together and develop standard solutions for everything from materials used in the manufacture of passenger products and services to waste management practices.
ASF is a not-for-profit organization aiming to improve sustainability in aviation. Stonehaven is an international strategy consultancy and Robertsbridge is its sustainability firm.
