The Environment
Emirates Flight Catering is undertaking several initiatives in its ‘care of the environment’ programme. Already the company recovers over 65 tons of cardboard packaging per month, which is recycled into new paper products in Dubai. This has been extended further with the collection of waste paper from offices, which will yield an estimated 50 tons per year. We have now employed a dedicated ‘Environment Team’ whose sole task is to recover recyclable items from the waste stream inbound from aircraft. These items are segregated and stored in a dedicated area within the company premises and then sold in the local market with the proceeds supporting the cost of employing the team. During the six months from February 2010, over 75 tons of materials have been diverted from landfill. In addition to the daily recovery of mixed plastics, aluminium foils and aluminium cans, we are also exploring the potential to recover glass bottles and wooden crates. Recyclable materials are also collected in the hospitality lounges in the Dubai Airport concourses, as well as from the company's other food and beverage outlets in and around Dubai.
In February and May 2010, the Company participated in the annual Emirates Environmental Group Can Collection Drives. A total of 1627kg of aluminium cans were collected from the inbound waste stream, hospitality lounges and food and beverage outlets. At the awards ceremony held at Dubai Media City, the company was presented with a certificate and trophy as the winner of the ‘Company Category’.