An Assessment of an Airline Company within the Scope of Circular Economy Based Waste Management

Year 2024, , 347 - 356, 22.10.2024

Sinem Büyüksaatçı Kiriş , Binnur Gürül

https://doi.org/10.30518/jav.1509650

Abstract

The rapid growth in the aviation sector has prompted the industry to act and develop new and sustainable business models due to the greenhouse gases and waste generated inherently by the sector. In this context, this study provides an assessment of identifiable areas and determinants of circular economy in an airline company, considering its environmental impacts. As a result of the assessment, it has been observed that the airline company conducts initiatives in reduction, reuse, and recycling, along with the management of cabin materials and waste segregation. Action plans are in place regarding the reduction, substitution, or elimination of single-use plastics in material selection. In order to mitigate both the environmental and economic impacts of paper consumption, the company is undertaking digitalization efforts within its business processes. The weight of aircraft is a crucial factor in the amount of fuel consumed and the quantity of CO2 emissions released. Therefore, airlines prefer to use lightweight materials inside the aircraft to reduce weight. Plastic catering materials are among these lightweight options. Unfortunately, due to the adverse environmental impacts of plastics, reducing their usage and, if possible, phasing them out are essential measures that airlines need to take. Consequently, the airline company under this study has removed the plastic outer packaging of the packaged materials used in the cabin. Furthermore, it continues its efforts to remove plastic materials used during catering services or replace them with biodegradable alternatives.

Keywords

Aviation, Airline industry, Circular Economy

References

• Alkhatib, S. F., & Migdadi, Y.K.A.A. (2021). A novel technique for evaluating and ranking green airlines: Benchmarking-base comparison. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 32(2), 210-226.
• Asmatulu, E., Twomey, J., & Overcash, M. (2013). Evaluation of recycling efforts of aircraft companies in Wichita. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 80, 36-45.
• ATAG. (2024). Retrieved from ATAG: https://www.atag.org/facts-figures/ [Access Date: March 2024].
• Aviationbenefits. (2023). Retrieved from Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders: https://aviationbenefits.org/ [Access Date: October 2023].
• Baxter, G., Srisaeng, P., & Wild, G. (2018). Sustainable airport waste management: The case of Kansai international airport. Recycling, 3(1), 6.
• Baxter, G., & Srisaeng, P. (2022). Optimizing airport sustainable waste management from the use of waste-to- energy technology and circular economy principles: The case of London Gatwick Airport. Int J Traffic Transp Eng, 12, 176-195.
• Blanca-Alcubilla, G., Bala, A., de Castro, N., Colomé, R., & Fullana-i-Palmer, P. (2020). Is the reusable tableware the best option? Analysis of the aviation catering sector with a life cycle approach. Science of the Total Environment, 708, 135121.
• Dias, V. M. R., Jugend, D., de Camargo Fiorini, P., do Amaral Razzino, C., & Pinheiro, M. A. P. (2022). Possibilities for applying the circular economy in the aerospace industry: Practices, opportunities and challenges. Journal of Air Transport Management, 102, 102227.
• Diaz, L.F. (2017). Waste management in developing countries and the circular economy. Waste Management & Research, 35(1), 1-2.
• Dolganova, I., Bach, V., Rödl, A., Kaltschmitt, M., & Finkbeiner, M. (2022). Assessment of critical resource use in aircraft manufacturing. Circular economy and sustainability, 2(3), 1193-1212.
• Domone, J., Bliss, P., & Copus, M. (2021). A circular economy for civil aerospace. ATKINS-Member of the SNC- Lavalin Group.
• Gedik, Y. (2020). Döngüsel ekonomiyi anlamak: Teorik bir çerçeve. Turkish Business Journal, 1(2), 110-137.
• Gheewala, S. H., & Silalertruksa, T. (2021). Life cycle thinking in a circular economy. In: An Introduction to circular economy (pp.35-53). Springer International Publishing.
• Global Footprint Network: https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/earth-overshoot-day/ [Access Date: September 2023]
• Gunerhan, A., Altuntas, O., & Caliskan, H. (2023). Utilization of renewable and sustainable aviation biofuels from waste tyres for sustainable aviation transport sector. Energy, 276, 127566.
• Guven, T. B., Degirmenci, H., Gunerhan, A., & Altuntas, O. (2024). Energy efficiency and sustainability: Implementing circular economy principles for cabin waste management in aviation. Energy for Sustainable Development, 81, 101515.
• IATA (2022). Sustainable Cabin: Cabin Waste and Single Use Plastics (SUP). https://www.iata.org/en/iata- repository/pressroom/fact-sheets/fact-sheet---cabin-waste/: IATA [Access Date: November 2022].
• IATA (2020). Retrieved from: https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/cabin-waste/ [Access Date: November 2023].
• ICAO. (2023). ICAO Environment Report Chapter Eight Towards a Circular Economy, https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Documents/EnvironmentalReports/2019/ENVReport2019_pg275-278.pdf. [Access Date: 23 December 2023].
• ICAO. (2024). Retrieved from ICAO: https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Pages/CircularEconomy.aspx [Access Date: February 2024].
• Jaeger, B., & Upadhyay, A. (2020). Understanding barriers to circular economy: cases from the manufacturing industry. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 33(4), 729-745.
• Karamustafa, E.Y., Arsan, B., & Beşoğul, K. (2022). Döngüsel ekonomi ve endüstri 4.0’ın sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedeflerini gerçekleştirmeye etkisi: Sistematik literatür taraması. Bilgi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 24(2), 294-323.
• Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., & Hekkert, M. (2017). Conceptualizing the circular economy: An analysis of 114 definitions. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 127, 221-232.
• Korhonen, J., Honkasalo, A., & Seppälä, J. (2018). Circular economy: The concept and its limitations. Ecological Economics, 143, 37-46.
• Lee, T., Jung, S., Lee, S., Tsang, Y. F., Lee, K. H., & Kwon, E. E. (2024). Production of aviation fuel via thermal cracking of plastic waste. Energy Conversion and Management, 315, 118827.
• Markatos, D. N., & Pantelakis, S. G. (2022). Assessment of the impact of material selection on aviation sustainability, from a circular economy perspective. Aerospace, 9(2), 52.
• Migdadi, Y.K.A.A. (2018). Identifying the best practices of airlines’ green operations strategy: A cross‐regional worldwide survey. Environmental Quality Management, 28(1), 21-32.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2024). Retrieved from PWC: https://www.pwc.com.tr/esg-ve-surdurulebilirlik [Access Date: February 2024].
• Ranjbari, M., Saidani, M., Esfandabadi, Z.S., Peng, W., Lam, S.S., Aghbashlo, M., ... & Tabatabaei, M. (2021). Two decades of research on waste management in the circular economy: Insights from bibliometric, text mining, and content analyses. Journal of Cleaner Production, 314, 128009.
• Rutkowski, M. (2022). The areas of impact of the circular economy in passenger air transport. In: Intelligent Solutions for Cities and Mobility of the Future 17 (pp.123-132). Springer International Publishing.
• Salesa, A., León, R., & Moneva, J.M. (2023). Airlines practices to incorporate circular economy principles into the waste management system. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30(1), 443-458.
• Sarbassov, Y., Venetis, C., Aiymbetov, B., Abylkhani, B., Yagofarova, A., Tokmurzin, D., ... & Inglezakis, V. J. (2020). Municipal solid waste management and greenhouse gas emissions at international airports: a case study of Astana International Airport. Journal of Air Transport Management, 85, 101789.
• Stahel, W.R., & MacArthur. E. (2019). The Circular Economy: A User’s Guide. Routledge Publishing Limited.
• Sukhorukov, A., Koryagin, N., Bogdanova, E., & Zakharova, E. (2022, October). Modeling of Sustainable Business Processes of Solid Municipal Waste Removal in Civil Aviation. In Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Recent Advances in Civil Aviation (pp. 433-443). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore
• Tjahjono, M., Ünal, E., & Tran, T. H. (2023). The circular economy transformation of airports: an alternative model for retail waste management. Sustainability, 15(4), 3860.
• Tuladhar, A., Iatridis, K., & Dimov, D. (2022). History and evolution of the circular economy and circular economy business models. In: Circular economy and sustainability (pp.87-106). Elsevier Publishing.
• Veral, E. S. (2019). An evaluation on the circular economy model and the loops design in the context of waste management. European Journal of Science and Technology, (15), 2019, s. 18-27, DOI: 10.31590/ejosat.479333.
• Weetman, C. (2020). A circular economy handbook: How to build a more resilient, competitive and sustainable business. Kogan Page Publishers.
• Xiong, X., Song, X., Kaygorodova, A., Ding, X., Guo, L., & Huang, J. (2023). Aviation and carbon emissions: Evidence from airport operations. Journal of Air Transport Management, 109, 102383.
• Yang, C. H., Kuo, L., Liu, Y. Y., & Pan, K. L. (2024). Incorporating resource optimization for sustainable airline service innovation business decision model: toward circular economy policy achievement. Annals of Operations Research, 1-27.