Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines has launched a comprehensive in-flight organics recycling program, making it perhaps the first airline in the nation to start composting onboard food waste in addition to recycling cans and bottles. And the company is doing it with the help of nearly $35,000 in environmental funding from Hennepin and Dakota counties. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unique and it鈥檚 a big endeavor for them,鈥� said Andre Xiong, a recycling specialist at Hennepin County.
Until now, Sun Country has recycled only paper and cardboard. Now flight attendants will recycle passengers鈥� cans, bottles and juice cartons, while leftover food, napkins and discarded coffee cups and grounds will end up at metro area composting sites to be sold as dirt for gardens or roads.
The full program started at Sun Country鈥檚 buildings and on domestic flights this month.
A聽report by a recycling advocacy group said that as of 2010, 250 million tons of waste were generated on U.S. flights and yet no major airline had a comprehensive program to reduce food waste.
Since then, more airlines have pushed to go green. Alaska Airlines聽announced last spring聽it would start composting coffee grounds. JetBlue started composting at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, though it doesn鈥檛 collect compost onboard. Other airlines such as Delta recycle plastic, aluminum and paper on some flights.
鈥淎s the hometown airline, we feel responsible to be good corporate partners,鈥� said Eric Curry, executive vice president of customer experience and sales. 鈥淎s we continue to grow and develop at Sun Country, we鈥檙e looking at all phases of our operations that we can do better.鈥�
Curry said that company officials anticipate the new program will significantly cut into trash amounts. The airline says the program is part of a broader initiative dubbed 鈥淪oaring to Sustainability.鈥�
Increasing Organics Recycling
Sun Country is based in Mendota Heights, which is in Dakota County, but keeps hangars and other buildings at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Hennepin County. The airline applied for and received a $24,600 grant from Hennepin County last spring to boost recycling on airplanes and in office buildings at the airport. About the same time, Dakota County gave the airline $10,000 drawn from its business recycling incentive program started this year.
The public funding covers Sun Country鈥檚 costs for a start-up supply of compostable bags, organics and recycling bins and the first three months of organics recycling hauling. While Curry said the company didn鈥檛 need the counties鈥� money, their programs helped lay out guidelines for the airline鈥檚 recycling plans.
鈥淲e wanted to go a little further in our recycling efforts,鈥� he said, adding that the idea for the new program came from Sun Country employees.
Organics recycling has significantly increased in the last few years at MSP. All concessions at both terminals have collected food waste for composting since 2015. The total amount of organic waste has grown from 40 tons in 2010 to 466 tons in 2015, according to spokesman Patrick Hogan of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
Counties Start New Efforts
The state wants the metro area to recycle 75 percent of its waste by 2030, so counties are ramping up recycling efforts. When Dakota County launched its business recycling incentive program in August, Sun Country was one of the first businesses to apply. So far, 15 businesses have implemented programs.
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