Airlines practices to incorporate circular economy principles into the waste management system

Abstract

Airlines' negative impacts are rising due to the growth of the industry, and therefore new and more sustainable alternative business models are being developed and implemented. In this context, this paper analyses how airlines are incorporating Circular Economy (CE) into their service model and proposes a framework to identify the main practices of CE that support waste management. After a detailed review of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports of a worldwide sample of companies, this paper builds on waste and material management, where airline activities have more impacts on edible and inedible waste. Results show that companies are adopting measures such as recycling in-cabin waste, incorporating new materials, and defining new systems to make the feeding services more efficient. Nevertheless, CE adoption is still low, and the CE strategies do not seem to follow specific patterns.