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Easyjet Introduces New Uniforms Made From Recycled Plastic For Cabin Crew And Pilot

easyJet is introducing new uniforms for its cabin crew and pilots that are made from recycled plastic, with 45 bottles going into each outfit, the firm said.

Up to half a million bottles will be re-used each year as part of the change to the new uniform, which is made from a high-tech material created using renewable energy.

easyJet says it will replace all uniforms over a five-year contract, potentially preventing 2.7 million plastic bottles from going into landfill or the ocean.

The new uniforms have been developed by Northern-Ireland based Tailored Image, and will be introduced into cabin crew circulation this month.

The material used to create the uniforms has a 75 per cent lower carbon footprint than the polyester currently used to make the outfits worn by airline staff.

While easyJet offsets the carbon emitted from their flights and takes measures to reduce emissions, it has come under fire from Greenpeace and other campaigners for operating short haul domestic flights with rail alternatives.

Airline easyJet are introducing new uniforms for its cabin crew and pilots that are made from recycled plastic, with 45 bottles going into each outfit, the firm said

UN report says global warming is ALREADY causing extreme weather and the world will heat up by 1.5C by 2040 – a decade earlier than forecast 

The Earth is likely to warm by 1.5C within the next 20 years — a decade earlier than previously expected.

Heatwaves, flooding and droughts will also become more frequent and intense, a UN report has warned.

Scientists had expected temperatures to rise by 1.5C above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052 but now believe it will happen between this year and 2040.

The report into climate change also said it was ‘unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land’.

Since 1970, global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years, the authors said, while the past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850.

‘It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,’ said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research.

‘I don’t see any area that is safe… Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.’

It comes as record heatwaves, wildfires and floods hit countries around the world.

The 1.5C mark is considered to be the point where climate change becomes increasingly dangerous.

Compared to the non-recycled alternative, it is more abrasion-resistant, and provides more elasticity with better fit and freedom of movement for the crew.

This development can lead to it being long-lasting for the wearer, reducing the need for more uniform items to be produced in the long term, the firm said.

Beyond the new fabric, plastic has also been replaced in the packaging and other related items used to send out the uniform to crew and pilots.

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Plastic collar strays will be replaced with recyclable cardboard ones, plastic shirt clips with metal shirt clips, non-recyclable white coated card with recyclable cardboard card and polypropylene outer shirt covers with biodegradable shirt covers.

easyJet says this is an expansion of its existing efforts to reduce onboard plastic, including reducing the number of single-use plastic items on its flights.

The airline has already replaced many items with more sustainable alternatives, such as introducing a small plant-based bowl as a teabag holder.

The firm says it has removed over 27 million individual items of plastic from inflight retail operation in Financial Year 2020, and has never offered plastic straws.

It also offers a 50p discount on hot drinks for customers bringing a reusable cup.

Tina Milton, Director of Cabin Services at easyJet, said climate change is an issue fore everyone, and easyJet are doing what they can to reduce emissions and waste.

‘We are excited to be debuting this new pilot and cabin crew uniform made from recycled plastic bottles and to introduce it for our pilots and cabin crew colleagues,’ Milton said, adding ‘sustainability is an important issue.’

‘It is a priority for us to continue work on reducing our carbon footprint in the short term, coupled with long-term work to support the development of new technology, including zero-emission planes which aspire to reduce the carbon footprint of aviation radically.

‘We continue to work with innovative technology partners Wright Electric and Airbus. Each of them has set out its ambitious timetables for bringing zero-emission aircraft into commercial service to become a reality.

‘People have a choice in how they travel, and if people choose to fly with us, we want to be one of the best choices they can make.’

easyJet says it has focused on being as carbon efficient as possible since its first flight 25 years ago, working to reduce emissions.

The firm says it is working on transitioning its fleet to increasingly more modern, fuel and therefore carbon-efficient planes.

easyJet says it will replace all uniforms over a five-year contract, potentially preventing 2.7 million plastic bottles from going into landfill or the ocean

Since 2000 easyJet has reduced the carbon emissions for each kilometre flown by a passenger by over a third. Initiatives have included introducing lightweight carpets, trolleys and seats, single-engine taxiing and removing paper manuals from aircraft.

In 2019, easyJet became the world’s first major airline to operate carbon neutral flights across its whole network by offsetting the carbon emissions from the fuel used for all of its flights, something they say is an ‘only an interim measure’.

While easyJet has come out on top in terms of the airline doing the most to reduce carbon emissions from flying, it has previously come under fire for operating routes also available by rail.

The material used to create the uniforms has a 75 per cent lower carbon footprint than the polyester currently used to make the outfits worn by airline staff

In February, it launched 12 domestic UK routes that saw Greenpeace say it shows the airline is prioritising profit over the planet’s health.

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An easyJet spokesperson said: ‘The new routes which will operate this summer have been introduced in response to the demand we’re seeing for domestic air travel in the UK and as with all our flights, we offset all of the carbon emissions from the fuel used for them.’

They added that they are ‘supporting the development of radical new technologies to achieve zero-emission flying in the future, which we are committed to transitioning to as soon as they are available’.

Eight million tonnes of plastics find their way into the ocean every year

Of 30 billion plastic bottles used by UK households each year, only 57 per cent are currently recycled.

With half of these going to landfill, half of all plastic bottles that are recycled go to waste.

Around 700,000 plastic bottles a day end up as litter.

This is largely due to plastic wrapping around bottles that are non-recyclable.

Bottles are a major contributor to the increasing amount of plastic waste in the world’s oceans.

Researchers warned eight million tonnes of plastics currently find their way into the ocean every year – the equivalent of one truckload every minute.

The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed. 

At current rates, this will worsen to four truckloads per minute in 2050 and outstrip native life to become the largest mass inhabiting the oceans.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of plastic packaging – worth £65 – £92billion – is lost to the economy after a single use, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report stated.

And available research estimates that there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastics in the ocean today.

It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year

So much plastic is dumped into the sea each year that it would fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet, scientists have warned. 

More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. 

The only industrialized western country on the list of top 20 plastic polluters is the United States at No. 20. 

The US and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter, researchers said.

While China is responsible for 2.4 million tons of plastic that makes its way into the ocean, nearly 28 percent of the world total, the United States contributes just 77,000 tons, which is less than one percent, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Source: dailymail

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