If you can’t beat it, improve it! Going Bio on the plastic

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) announced on 29 OCT 19 that it is starting to switch to M&G Packaging’s BioNatur™ plastic for most of the plastics it uses during cargo handling operations. The ground handler sees itself as a pioneer in the air cargo industry, given that it is the first large air cargo company to adopt a more eco-friendly stance in this regard.

The air cargo industry without plastic, is like…?
Imagine sixty-four 747-8 freighters parked up next to each other. That is the weight equivalent of single-use plastic that the air cargo industry as a whole uses in a single year. Walk into any warehouse and you will see pallets being generously wrapped in plastic prior to being netted – and plastic is certainly an excellent invention and a necessity, given some of the weather conditions those pallets are exposed to as they wait on the ramp or outside the warehouse.
Yet, where does that plastic go at the end of the pallet’s journey? If you are imagining that it gets recycled, think again. Of all plastics in the world, less than 10% gets recycled, and when it comes to air cargo plastic sheets, none of it does. Possibly some of it gets incinerated, though more likely it ends up in landfill. Plastics in landfill can take between 500-1000 years to degrade, and that plastic does the opposite of enriching the earth it lies in, goes without saying.

A significant milestone in WFS’ global sustainability programme
Counting over 270 airlines as customers and serving them at 180 major airports in 22 countries on 5 continents, WFS claims to be the world’s largest air cargo handler and a leading ground handling and technical services provider, so any process improvements with regard to environmental issues, will have a significant positive impact in the industry. In the recent press statement, Mike Simpson, WFS Executive Vice President for the Americas, proudly announced “Worldwide Flight Services is excited to be the first major customer of these environmentally-friendly products in the air cargo industry,” pointing out that “WFS uses the equivalent of more than 27 million plastic water bottles a year in protective plastic sheeting and wrap so with this commitment we can make a significant contribution to the environment. We are thrilled to finally have a product that ensures this plastic will not languish in a landfill for decades.”