Aviation Explained: Waste, Recycling and the ‘Circular Economy’: What does it mean for aviation?

Transcript

Derek Sadubin:Welcome to Aviation Explained. In this edition, we're looking at the rising challenge of waste management and recycling. And we ask, what is the circular economy and what does it mean for aviation? We're joined today by Gregoire James and Jonathan Cocker of the International Aviation Waste Management Association. The association dedicates itself to the reduction and eventual elimination of all solid waste resulting from air transport activities worldwide. So welcome to CAPA Live and Aviation Explained, Jonathan and Gregoire.

Jonathan Cocker:Thank you very much for having us.

Gregoire James:Thanks for having us, Derek.

Derek Sadubin:I'd like to start with the basics, Jonathan. What is the circular economy? What does it mean? What are some of, I guess, some examples of it in the wider economy?

Jonathan Cocker:Sure, sure. Well, when we think about the circular economy, we really think about 3 things. The first is a requirement to design products to essentially eliminate waste and pollution. So that's often called eco-design or design for environment. And an example would be a bottle, a canister that is specifically designed to be cleaned and reused. I mean, when we see that obviously in various different industries. The bottling industry is one where I think we've seen the most innovation for the longest period. The second area I think we look at is around the reuse and recapture of materials at end of life. So a good example in the aviation space perhaps could be the electronics that are increasingly prominent in aircraft and the materials that go into those electronics. They're very valuable materials, and without a resource recovery plan, those materials and those metals particularly are sometimes lost. So I think that's, that's the second pillar. The third pillar is one that's probably a broader societal pillar, and that is around the regeneration of natural systems. So if you think of the organics, for example, that would be part of an offering on an airplane in an airport. Those, those organics could well be repurposed as fertilizer, whether in a compost, whether in a— as a digestate, and spread and applied on lands to grow further crops that then ultimately end up back in those aircraft. So it's essentially 3 different components, all of which are within an umbrella of a circulation, a reuse, a recapture, a refurbishment. a remanufacturing of materials and goods to avoid a depletion of the world's resources.

Derek Sadubin:Yeah, you mentioned aviation there, Jonathan. Gregoire, maybe I could come to you, ask more specifics about aviation. What activities or items in the aviation ecosystem lend themselves well to this concept that Jonathan's just talked about?

Gregoire James:Yeah, so, you know, taking on what Jonathan stated about the circular economy, its definition, we look at 2 things, I think, in essence, from the passenger perspective and from the airline perspective. Aluminum and plastic are kind of the 2 real front runners when we talk about cabin and passenger consumables, specifically catering. There's not a lot of circularity taking place today.

Derek Sadubin:Right.

Gregoire James:The issue is how do you bring solutions that cost less and do more for the environment? I think therein lies the challenge. So we must size the problem first to be able to uncover future economic opportunities because there is no change without uncovering ROI. So when you're talking about circularity embeddement in aviation, you know, we really have to uncover where the economic opportunity is. And the crux of the issue is we all strive for brand value enhancement, improved sustainability awareness, and demonstrating thought leadership. innovation, and ultimately having, in essence, all of that combined for truly measurable waste reduction industry-wide. And these are the intangible ROIs. So to answer your question, recycling is going to have to demonstrate real ROIs. And when we talk about recycling as it pertains to the circular economy, it is a component to deliver that regeneration which Jonathan was talking about. And unfortunately, the industry is still late to the party on this one, but it can be done. Through uncovering the gaps. And with the association, this is how we're trying to uncover these opportunities by building value for planet and industry, and that is by leveraging the economy. Yeah, yeah.

Derek Sadubin:So you said the industries are late coming to this. I mean, are there any barriers in the way, regulatory or otherwise? Perhaps, Jonathan, you could answer this, that would get in the way of better or more recycling and better waste management? Yeah, what are those barriers?

Jonathan Cocker:Yeah, I think we look at, first of all, the barriers within industry itself. And when we look at the aviation sector, we see a heavily siloed industry. You have airlines, you have airports, you have catering companies, you have supply chain parties that really don't coordinate and seek a common ground around issues such as waste and circular economy. So that's been a hurdle, I think, from day one. And I think that's— this push that we're now seeing in the aviation space hopefully will bring these parties together in recognition that they ultimately have a shared interest around these issues. Secondly, secondly, we see regulation at an international level which imposes different standards on the materials on flights that transfer across borders versus those that are domestic, and that creates a lot of complications around how one handles those materials and what one can do with those materials end of life. So we talked about circular economy, but in a lot of countries, international flight waste is deemed to be a threat to flora and fauna, and as a result cannot be treated in the same way that domestic waste can. And I think third, the other issue that we have is we have a bit of a disconnect, I think, between the opportunities that we see in the international aviation industry broadly defined And the kind of variance on the ground in each, in each city where an airport's situated, in each state or province, and in each country. So we tend to have a wide variety of regulatory landscapes in which to service this industry that otherwise is in a wonderful position, frankly, to engage the circular economy, given that the, the essential closed loop opportunities that we see across the aviation space.

Derek Sadubin:Yeah, I'd like to talk a little bit more about those expectations of the traveling public and that passenger experience. You know, there's popular demands about replacing plastic cups with bamboo ones on flights, etc. Is that going in the right direction here? And I'd also like to just unpack that international problem of flights landing and everything going to landfill. But what about the traveling public and their expectations? What are the kind of key issues there?

Gregoire James:Yeah, I can answer that one, Derek. It's a good question actually because it happens— this question actually comes up in boardrooms across the world in airlines. And, you know, having conducted global FAA research where we had gone to 50 or 60 countries looking at these issues of supply chain gaps, of looking at how airlines manage this issue. You know, it comes down to the consumer and what they see. So it's around narrative shaping. Narrative shaping aside, if you look at swapping plastic to bamboo, there is no capturing of bamboo at the end of life. It still ends up in landfill. So the issue is that plastic isn't actually the bad actor. What is the issue or what is the challenge is There is no recapture mechanism for plastic or bamboo. So there, there are scientists that are working on plastic circularity as we speak. Some of our discussions are with the plastics industry, and they do show promise on plastic circularity. And I'm not actually saying one material is better than the other. What I'm saying is plastic provides a clean, hygienic delivery of product while ensuring, of course, more importantly, fuel burn stays low as a result of weight mitigation. So If we can show measurable collection and circularity of plastics or an alternate, and consumers see the results where it's all being captured and none of it is getting shipped off to another country, ending up in a river, ocean, as we see in the media, we can have a winning formula here because the industry is already a closed and controlled ecosystem. And we know what goes in, we know what comes out. So you could actually collect what comes out of the industry. It's a win-win-win. We'll have a trifecta or a huge win for consumers, A win for the environment and for the industry.

Derek Sadubin:Yeah, you mentioned materials and material selection, you know, plastics, etc., and the huge, I guess, implications on fuel saving, which is a huge issue for the airlines in their financial planning and financial performance. Can you talk a little bit more about that, or maybe Jonathan, about some of the implications of just getting material selection right?

Jonathan Cocker:Yeah, yeah. Look, I think there was a time when around these issues of waste, the weight involved, onboard weight involved, particularly with aircraft, commercial aircraft, really determined what that selection should be. So sustainability wasn't really top of mind. It was really about fuel savings generated in part by a reduction of onboard weight, including the types of materials that were put on for consumers. I think we've seen in conjunction with a change of thinking around waste in the aviation space, we've also seen the change in thinking around the fuel sources in aviation. And not a day goes by that we don't see another announcement around sustainable aviation fuels. We see hydrogen, we see, we see other alternatives in the biofuel space. And I think those initiatives not only open the door or perhaps reopen the door for sustainability within aviation, but they also give some latitude in respect of emissions to airlines that otherwise felt hamstrung previously in attempting to simply lower their emissions based on the materials. And so I think we're seeing a flowering of that opportunity. I think the discussion from the public will push waste as well as sustainable aviation fuels and demand a better performance on both. And we're starting to see first movers, frankly, in this space. We're seeing, we're seeing companies say we are going to own this, and we think there are some competitive advantages based on consumer demand and based on other metrics that we're being required to report on. And so we're going to start to look again at what our practices are in the waste space as well as the broader The broader fuel space.

Derek Sadubin:Yeah. You mentioned, I think, Gregoire, earlier on about industry collaboration, and it's vital, I think, in achieving zero waste. Maybe we could dig a little deeper into that. What else needs to happen in terms of industry collaboration? What are some of the early good examples of it, and what more needs to be done?

Gregoire James:Sure. Yeah, great question, Derek. Actually, You know, to follow up on Jonathan's point, collaboration, we're seeing it right now in carbon neutrality. So the industry during the pandemic has announced carbon neutrality with essentially collaboration. You know, a lot of the big heavy players, even the corporate travel space, is investing heavily in sustainable aviation fuels. And, you know, fuel consumption has always been the primary reason the industry is not Utilizing more advanced circular products due to weight. But with sustainable aviation fuels and the fact that they emit less carbon, it actually could enable circularity to be embedded more so. And that is where we actually have heavier items if need be, might be a little bit more costly. But when we actually transition to these activities of zero waste— And look, the industry did it. many, many years ago with safety. Safety costed— had greater cost embedded, but it was a priority. So I think sustainability is the safety of our time. And, you know, look, we're really not aware of any real meaningful global supply chain strategy that aggregates and actually collects all the waste and effectively sorts it, streams it, and monetizes it, which is another opportunity in the industry. So with collaboration, we could see that. Rather than having a, you know, bag full of waste, it might be that we have a bag full of opportunity. Yeah.

Derek Sadubin:Well, I mean, there are some promising signs that I'm picking up from this conversation. Where do you think we'll be? Maybe I could ask both of you this question. Where do you think we could be on this quest in, say, 5 or maybe let's say 2030? Where do you think we could be by the end of this decade?

Jonathan Cocker:Well, let me make a comment, Greg, and then pass it over to you. I think we're seeing increasing pressure in the aviation space for better performance, and that starts to translate, frankly, into obligations around things like permitting, obligations around funding. We saw that a bit with the bailout, the pandemic bailout, that conditions were starting to be imposed in the aviation space. And so I think what we'll see is a social license to operate in the aviation space tied to performance around a number of factors, emissions being one, but circular economy being another. And I think by 2030, we won't be having this discussion as to whether they should be tied together. It'll just be a question of what those obligations are and how does one discharge them. I don't know, Greg, do you have any thoughts on that?

Gregoire James:Yeah, you know, and we've talked about this internally quite a, quite a bit. I mean, since, since the founding of the IAWMA, this goes kind of pre-pandemic, about 2 and a half years ago, you know, we talked about standardization. And suppose there's a way to standardize some of the activities across the industry, be it process or materials, in which case the next 5 to 10 years could see a material improvement in the recapture of waste as raw materials back into the economy. Doing so could positively affect the industry's bottom line through Brand value enhancement, improved sustainability and awareness. And so there are really many possibilities that could, that could come from that. And that's kind of where the real opportunity is, having measurable waste reduction industry-wide, which is currently, currently absent. So, you know, if we, if we measure and quantify the problem and we generate value from waste, we could, we could see a possibility of enhancing the industry's resilience, which by definition is its relationship with nature.

Derek Sadubin:Yeah, well, yeah, don't we need that right now, increasing our resilience? Look, thanks, Gregoire. Thank you, Jonathan. Best wishes to you and your association's mission. If any of our viewers, if you'd like more information about what the association is doing, you can visit their website at iawma.org. Iawma.org. I commend that to you.

Gregoire James:Thank you.

Derek Sadubin:And yes, I hope we'll hear some positive results over the next, say, 12 months. We'd love to have you back at CAPA Live in the future and hear how it's all going. But till then, thanks very much and best wishes with it.

Gregoire James:Great.

Jonathan Cocker:Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Gregoire James:Thank you.

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