Monarch expands onboard recycling programme

Following the successful launch of its full onboard recycling programme on Gatwick flights in October, award winning airline Monarch, is extending the initiative to include all flights operating into Birmingham International Airport. The extension of the scheme will mean that all aluminium, plastic, glass and paper used during these flights will now be recycled after landing.

Monarch pioneered the scheme ahead of other UK carriers as part of its ongoing environmental planning, known as MAP (Monarch and the Planet). Through this work, all aspects of the airline’s business are being evaluated to help improve its environmental footprint.

The scheme means that all recyclable items, such as aluminium drinks cans, plastic wine and water bottles, glass wine and champagne bottles plus newspapers/magazines are placed into a separate recycling bag by cabin crew during the flight. This is subsequently collected by cleaning staff at Gatwick Airport and Birmingham Airport on the flight’s arrival for recycling.

Commenting on the extension of its onboard recycling programme, managing director of Monarch Airlines, Tim Jeans said, “Over the past 3 months our onboard recycling initiative on flights into Gatwick has been fantastically received by both Monarch cabin crew and customers, with many customers assisting the process by separating their own recyclable waste before collection by the crew.

“70% of the waste generated in the cabin is potentially recyclable, so the fact that more airlines are not adopting similar policies is staggering. We are delighted that our ongoing work with Birmingham Airport is enabling us to introduce the scheme on flights into the airport, however we urge our other UK and European airports to introduce the necessary recycling infrastructure to enable us to roll out the scheme to include all Monarch services”.

Monarch is one of the UK’s largest leisure airlines, operating both charter and scheduled flights and was recently voted as Leisure Airline of the Year for the second consecutive year in the prestigious TTG travel industry awards and Best Charter Airline in the Telegraph Reader awards. The airline is the principal independent supplier of charter seats to tour operators large and small, flying to around 100 destinations across Europe, America, Africa and Asia from the UK’s principal and regional airports.

The scheduled service division of Monarch Airlines offers low cost services from Birmingham, London Luton, London Gatwick and Manchester Airports to destinations in Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Cyprus.

The airline, based at Luton, operates one of the most well-equipped fleets in the skies today comprising 23 Airbus and eight Boeing aircraft. The airline will also be one of the first UK carriers to take delivery of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft with six due for delivery between 2010 and 2013.

For more information or to book, visit Monarch.co.uk.