New York's hometown airline partners with Air Ventures and Royal Waste Services to turn food scraps into fertilizer for local farms.
NEW YORK – JetBlue Airways announced a partnership with Air Ventures and Royal Waste Services to compost leftovers from select restaurants in Terminal 5 (T5) at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Air Ventures, the franchisee that owns and operates the Jamba Juice and Dunkin Donuts restaurants in T5 and Royal Waste Services have committed to work with the airline to separate and haul nearly 300 pounds of food waste each day for composting.
Preserving the environment and creating a healthier planet is a core pillar of JetBlue’s sustainability philosophy. Compost is good for the environment, reduces the amount of solid waste that goes into landfills, redirects it to become a useful product and decreases the production of greenhouse gases such as methane.
“We have a greater responsibility to the community than just transporting people from point A to point B,” said Robin Hayes, chief commercial officer, JetBlue Airways. “As a corporate citizen and leader in our industry, we seek opportunities to recycle, reduce and restore. We offset emissions from all crewmember business travel, we fund and plant trees in areas affected by deforestation, and now, we’re introducing a composting program at our home base of operations at New York’s JFK airport. JetBlue’s 15,000 crewmembers power our efforts every day to be the airline of choice among the communities we serve, and together, we aim to improve our communities’ environment, too.”
This collaboration is JetBlue’s most recent sustainability effort. Rather than tossing food into the trash, Air Ventures will throw compostable food scraps into bins which Royal Waste Services will then transport to a composting facility to turn it into fertilizer and nutrient rich soil for local farms including McEnroe Organic Farm in upstate New York. JetBlue plans to extend this partnership to other vendors in JFK’s T5, as well as other airports throughout its network.
“We know that reducing the landfill footprint is the right business and social choice,” said Stephen Baldi, operating partner, Air Ventures. “Our dedicated managers and team members who see the waste on a daily basis want to do this and help make the program happen.”
“Composting is a no-brainer,” said Joe Morra, general manager, Royal Waste Services. “As a company, we can reduce costs. As corporate citizens, we can keep good materials out of landfill.”
At JetBlue, preserving the environment is a top priority. The airline is creating a healthier planet through a variety of efforts. JetBlue recently accepted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Carbon Challenge to reduce carbon gas emissions in New York City. JetBlue also took an environmentally-friendly approach during the construction of its new corporate support center in Long Island City, adding to the building’s recognition by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as having achieved Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED EB) Silver certification. Since 2008, JetBlue has partnered with Carbonfund.org, a nonprofit organization that allows customers to offset carbon dioxide emissions generated by their individual air travel. The airline also offsets all crewmember business travel. Carbon offsets balance out carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a flight by supporting projects that reduce CO2 elsewhere. The airline offsets CO2 emissions through CarbonFund.org which manages a variety of sustainable initiatives including renewable energy and methane projects; energy efficiency and carbon credits and reforestation. Additionally, over the past six years through its One Thing That’s Green, JetBlue has planted 1,333 trees and cleaned up nearly three tons of trash throughout New York City in an effort to improve air quality. These trees will remove 34,658 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the course of their lives.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
