A pilot scheme involving two major charter carriers has shown the potential to recycle 14 million drinks cans a year dumped from UK holiday flights to Spain.
The cans currently go to landfill sites or are incinerated along with 3,000 tonnes of other waste produced by passengers on UK outbound flights to Spain – an average of 40kg per flight.
But a winter-season trial with First Choice Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines on flights to Palma de Mallorca and the Canary Islands suggests recycling the cans could save enough aluminium to build a Boeing 747 and electricity to power 560 homes for a year.
Organised by sustainable tourism charity the Travel Foundation, and with the help of Spanish airport authority AENA, the project required the cooperation of passengers and careful handling of rubbish by staff.
A Travel Foundation spokesman said: “There is no reason for other airlines flying to Spain to continue to dispose of drinks cans by dumping or incinerating.”
First Choice mainstream holidays managing director Dermot Blastland said: “It’s important the UK aviation industry shows its commitment to sustainability.”