Dubai-based Emirates has launched a new closed loop recycling initiative. Onboard items such as plastic trays, bowls, snack and casserole dishes, will now be recycled in a local facility and remade into fresh, ready-to-use Emirates meal service products.

Millions of old and damaged meal service items from Economy and Premium Economy Class dining will be collected after flights, washed and checked for damage, transported to a facility in Dubai to be ground down, reprocessed, and manufactured into new dishes, bowls and trays – before being sent to Emirates Flight Catering to be used again for thousands of meals in the sky.

In partnership with deSter, a provider of serviceware to the aviation industry, and expert in closed loop manufacturing, Emirates will be reusing plastic materials that have already reached their end of life and would otherwise need to be written off. The new trays, casseroles, snack dishes and bowls, potentially containing around 25% reused material,  will be brought back into service on aircraft across the globe, and the proportion will continue to increase over time.

Emirates elected to work with deSter once a facility in UAE was ready to facilitate the huge scale of Emirates’ requirement – substantially reducing the carbon footprint of sending the products to another country to be recycled. The deSter factory also incorporates sustainable design principles focusing on solar power, efficient use of water and minimisation of waste.