Another reason to complain about the airline industry: Most stink at recycling

It hasn't been a great week for airlines. The Kevin Smith incident sparked all kinds of uncomfortable conversations (and hedging from airlines) about how to deal with issues of comfort and personal space on crowded planes. Then we read about this -- and interestingly, it was something I wondered about just last week on an American Airlines flight from Miami. Airlines generate all kinds of trash, ranging from discarded newspapers, to cups, plastic utensils, food containers and aluminum cans. But what happens to all that stuff? Depending on the airline, most of it goes straight to a landfill, even though 75% of it could be recycled. That's according to a recent study from Green America and its watchdog site, ResponsibleShopper.org.

On that recent American Airlines trip, I had two different experiences. On my outbound flight, attendants collected aluminum cans in a separate bag, but on the return flight, everything -- trash, newspapers, and cans -- just went into the same bag. And just in my own experience, each airline is different. Some ask specifically for paper waste separately, but others don't. My anecdotal observations are far from comprehensive, but they generally mirror what was found by Green America: that airline policies are all over the map and only a couple of companies have much of a plan for reducing waste and recycling.

The whole report -- available as a .pdf  -- is interesting, but here are a few of the key findings:

•  Delta and Virgin America are doing the best job. Delta implemented a very limited recycling program for cans, bottles and newspaper in 2007, and is working on rolling it out to all domestic flights. Virgin America collects recycling on about half of its flights, and is taking steps to reduce its corporate footprint as well.
  
• United and US Airways get the worst scores. United collects items for recycling only on flights landing in Hawaii. US Airways, according to the report, had a can recycling program, but terminated it because of logistics.
  
• American Airlines flight attendants took action on their own. Frustrated by the company's lack of a recycling plan, flight attendants came up with their own plan for recycling aluminum cans. They don't do it on all flights, but proceeds from recycling are donated to charity.
  
• There's room for improvement across the board. 

Green American points out that airlines could do a better job reducing packaging and supplies that go on the plane in the first place. For example, Virgin America doesn't print an in-flight magazine, and it encourages arriving passengers to pass their unwanted reading materials to departing passengers.

I think we all understand that flight attendants don't have it easy -- between all of the post-9/11 security measures and marketing all of the new extras (selling food, blankets and headphones, etc.) -- attendants are plenty busy, especially on shorter flights. But at the very least, flight crews could give passengers a place to deposit recyclables after they land by placing appropriate bins in their arrivals areas.