Tell the Airlines to Recycle - Sign the Petition at Moxyvote

Green America exposed in their first report on airline recycling that there's a huge amount of trash generated each and every time we fly, more than 881 million pounds every year. That's 9,000 tons of plastic, enough aluminum cans to build 58 Boeing 747 jets, and enough paper to cover a football field 230 meters deep. What's worse is that our report found only about 20 percent of this waste being recycled.

This work became Green America's most-downloaded report ever, and was featured on CNN, in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and in other media outlets all over the country. It also sparked the imagination of our partners at MoxyVote (the shareholder action group), and so we're pleased to share with you MoxyVote's most recent action letter: a message to seven of the biggest airlines demanding policies that work toward zero in-flight waste, including 100-percent recycling, composting, and staff training in waste reduction.

Sign MoxyVote & Green America's letter

Right now, our corporate responsibility team is collecting data from the airlines for our follow-up 2012 report, you'll see that there's some good news. Some airlines made significant improvements, and told us our report was the impetus for their changes. We'll tell you which are doing better, and which are still lagging behind.

As concerned consumers, we believe that it is important for us to know that the airline companies with which we travel help reduce consumer waste by implementing recycling programs. Overall, airlines have the capacity to recycle nearly 500 million more pounds of waste each year, including 250 million pounds of in-flight waste. Additionally, nearly 75% of in-flight generated waste is recyclable; however only about 20% of that waste actually is recycled.

Sign the MoxyVote Petition