Environmentally Sustainable Airline Waste Management: The Case of Finnair PLC

Abstract

Airlines around the world are increasingly focusing on the environmentally sustainable management of wastes produced as a by-product of their operations. The objective of this work was to analyze Finnair’s non-hazardous waste (NHW) types and quantities, their NHW management strategies, and the methods used to mitigate the environmental impact of their NHW, over the period 2008 to 2019. To achieve these objectives, the study was underpinned by an in-depth mixed methods research design; this incorporated a quantitative longitudinal study and a qualitative document analysis. The results revealed that despite significant growth of their operations, Finnair’s annual NHWs have declined over the study period. Finnair’s annual NHWs decreased from 5,710 tonnes in 2008 to 4,212.01 tonnes in 2019. The primary waste disposal methods used by the airline are waste-to-energy recovery and waste recycling, both in-house and by external third-party service providers. Smaller quantities of wastes are composted. Since 2015, the company has had a policy of not disposing wastes to landfill.