Effective Use of Limited Resources

Most single-use plastics are made from compounds derived through petrochemical processes. As they are not biodegradable and persist in the natural environment unless incinerated, they have caused significant harm to marine ecosystems due to marine plastic pollution.^*1 Additionally, when petrochemical resources are used and manufactured, the amount of CO₂ emitted is approximately 1.89 times the weight of the plastic produced.^*2 CO₂ emissions also occur during waste incineration, making petrochemical plastics one of the contributors to global climate change.^*3 Japan has also been reported as generating the second-highest amount of disposable plastic waste per capita in the world.^*4 Furthermore, concerns are growing over the potential adverse effects of chemicals associated with plastics.^*5

Thus, to pass on our precious Earth to the next generation, it is essential to overhaul the conventional societal system of mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal, and transition to a "Circular Economy". The JAL Group is taking on this challenge by establishing its own "Priorities of Resource Circulation", guided by the JAL Group Environmental Policy. With advice from experts at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan, JAL has developed “alternative material solutions[435 KB : PDF]Open link in a new window” that emphasize sustainability, biodiversity, recyclability, resource efficiency, and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions during recycling.

Through the promotion of the 3R (Reduce/Reuse/Recycle) +1 (Redesign), we have set a goal of phasing out all new petroleum-based single-use plastics in our cabins and lounges as well as switching all our single-use plastics used in airports and cargo to eco-friendly materials^*6 contained by FY2025.

• *1 ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics”
• *2 CIEL (Center for International Environmental Law) “Plastic & Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet (2019)”
• *3 World Economy Forum “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics (2016)”
• *4 UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) “Single-use Plastics: A roadmap for Sustainability (2018)”
• *5 UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) 「Chemicals in Plastics - A Technical Report (2023)
  JAL actively promotes the prohibition of PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) and BPA (Bisphenol A) in tableware and toys.
• *6 Items that do not use or reduces the use of new petroleum-derived raw materials, such as biomass, recycled plastic, and certified paper

The JAL Group has been actively reducing single-use plastic service items in its cabins and lounges. In collaboration with manufacturers, we are not only focusing on material replacements but also engaging in research and development to ensure the sustainability and safety of alternative materials. By the end of FY2024, we achieved a 96% reduction compared to the FY2019 baseline of 1,967 tonnes. Furthermore, single-use plastics in lounges were completely eliminated in FY2023, and the full phase-out of new petroleum-based single-use plastics in cabins is to be achieved by the end of FY2025.

As for single-use plastics, it is important to first review the necessity of the service item itself and eliminate unnecessary plastic products in accordance with actual service conditions. Following a detailed review of how service items are used on arrived aircraft and in lounges, we have changed so that razors, toothbrushes, etc. are provided per request only.
In cases where the use of plastic cannot be completely eliminated, reductions can be achieved by rethinking service methods and adopting innovative approaches. For instance, in lounges, plastic wrapping materials have been entirely eliminated through the introduction of hand towel dispensers. Similarly, the individual packaging of snacks has been replaced with a system where customers can serve themselves using a spoon, significantly reducing plastic use.

Effective utilization of resources and promoting their repeated use over a long period marks a significant shift away from disposable items. In terms of resource management, it is essential to reassess the specifications of plastic products that cannot be reduced and transform them into reusable alternatives. For example, instead of single-use plastic (non-woven fabric) headrest covers, we have collaborated with Sannopco Co., Ltd. to develop a reusable material made from domestically produced thinned woodOpen link in a new window.
Furthermore, starting in June 2024, we have introduced 100% biomass-based Green Planet® containers, jointly developed by JALUX and Kaneka, for inflight meal side dish containers offered on JAL international flights.

If disposable items are unavoidable due to constraints such as hygiene, it is essential not only to replace the materials but also to ensure the sustainability of the alternatives. The JAL Group is committed to transitioning to products that avoid the use of raw materials derived from petrochemical processes, focusing instead on materials that enable the effective utilization of resources. This initiative is what the JAL Group refers to as "Redesign".

Guided by our alternative material solutions[435 KB : PDF]Open link in a new window, we are actively "Redesigning" various items by adopting sustainable materials that does not use new petroleum-based raw materials. These include certified paper, materials made entirely from 100% certified agricultural crops otherwise scheduled for disposal, and 100% recycled plastics.

Horizontal recycling, a process where a resource is recycled into a product of the same use as its original purpose, is considered highly efficient in terms of resource utilization because it allows the resource's inherent properties to be reused without significant alteration. However, achieving this requires collaboration with companies that possess advanced recycling technologies.
Typically, used plastic bottles from aircraft are incinerated (energy recovery) after arrival. However, as part of JAL's unique initiative, cabin attendants sort the bottles onboard. Through partnerships with inflight catering companies and companies that possess the recycling technology, these bottles are recycled into new plastic bottles for beverage manufacturers --an approach referred to as "horizontal recycling".

Even when purchasing and providing commercial products as service items, we use specially ordered, JAL-customized items that are jointly developed with suppliers to align with JAL's "Priorities of Resource Circulation".
With the cooperation of Clear Water Tsunan Co., Ltd., the JAL Group has adopted 100% recycled plastic bottles for the mineral water provided with meals. Additionally, salad cups served in economy class have been replaced with ones made from recycled plastic.

After September 1st, 2021 for international flights (both to and from Japan) and October 1st, 2021 for domestic flights, we are no longer offering plastic bags for check-in baggage as part of our efforts to reduce disposable plastic products that contribute to global warming and marine pollution. We kindly ask for your cooperation in ensuring that your baggage is securely packed for transport.

Additionally, to further minimize the use of petroleum-based products that impact the environment, the JAL Group stopped offering non-woven carry-on baggage storage bags on domestic flights and at airports as of January 2024. We encourage customers who wish to protect their baggage to bring their own covers. We deeply appreciate your understanding and support in helping us reduce environmental impact and move toward a more sustainable future.

When transporting daily essentials such as pharmaceuticals and food products, the JAL Group utilizes polyethylene sheets to protect items from water damage. We are transitioning these sheets to materials that reduce the use of petroleum-based raw materials. Additionally, to prevent these plastics from being disposed of as waste, we have partnered with RIPRO Corporation to recycle them into land markers used for land registry investigations and other applications.

These recycled land markers are equipped with RFID tags, enabling visitors to access information about tourist spots via their smartphones, thereby contributing to regional revitalization. Furthermore, we have also begun recycling these plastics into bags for use at airports (Narita International Airport Corporation).

It is estimated that approximately 40% of the world's food is lost or wasted^*1, while greenhouse gas emissions from the entire food system, including production, transportation, processing, distribution, and disposal, account for 21-37% of global emissions^*2, and disposal alone accounts for 8-10% (about five times the emissions from the aviation sector^*3), and are responsible for up to 80% of biodiversity loss^*4. Food loss & waste is now a serious global issue, and in order to fulfill our responsibility to pass on the precious Earth to the next generation, it is an essential social responsibility to reduce loss & waste in the entire food system.

The JAL Group has been implementing initiatives (the "JAL Food Loss & Waste 4R Program") from the perspective of resource recycling. While monitoring and analyzing the amount of food waste for each food category on monthly basis^*5, we are also working on the effective use of food resources by recycling and reusing waste food in the cooking process and supply chain.

JAL's initiatives are pioneering and challenging among airlines worldwide, and we will continue to work toward further reductions.

*1 WWF-UK (World Wildlife Fund-UK) “DRIVEN TO WASTE:THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF FOOD LOSS AND WASTE ON FARMS” (2021) p.6
*2 IPCC Special report “Global warming of 1.5℃”
*3 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) “Food Waste Index Report 2024“
*4 United Nations ”Statement of Action on the UN Food Systems Summit” (2021)
*5 Our food loss & waste data are compiled based on the "Food Loss & Waste Protocol" proposed by the WRI (World Resources Institute).

Reduction is being implemented throughout the entire food life-stage cycle (purchasing - preparation - serving - disposal). JAL Royal Catering (hereinafter referred to as "JRC"), an inflight meal preparation company, analyzes the amount of food waste generated each month by food category, and is working to further reduce food loss by devising cooking methods, more appropriate stock/buying control, and analyzing reservation numbers. The yield rate has steadily improved to 4.4% in FY23.

Due to quarantine rules, it is a global regulation that all leftover food must be incinerated, and we cannot recycle into compost or animal feed. Therefore, as JAL's own initiative, JAL has been asking customers to cooperate in reducing leftover food by stating on menu cards for all inflight routes and in videos introducing inflight meals in the inflight entertainment system that "Reducing food loss and waste also reduces CO₂ emissions and keeps the Earth clean".

Since July 2022, JRC composts all recyclable food loss/residues from the cooking process of inflight meals utilizing a scheme, collaboration with NTT Business Solutions, other food companies, markets, etc^*6. All food loss and the cooking residues generated at JRC are composted through primary fermentation using a dedicated fermentation machine in the JRC plant.
In addition, we are recycling all food loss of our supply chain. When JRC purchases processed food ingredients, it sources only from suppliers who compost the residues generated in the cutting process, and it offers inflight meal menus that feature “Recycling-oriented vegetables” produced with the compost as ingredients. Our suppliers recycle meat scraps from the meat cutting process into ground meat, which is then served as hamburgers at restaurants in Okinawa and other locations.

*6 Some residues, such as shellfish shells and thick bones of seafood and meat, cannot be composted or turned into animal feed, but all of these residues are subject to thermal incineration and heat recovery (thermal recycling). In addition, the waste oil is recycled to gross quantity soap in recycling companies.

JAL is working to reduce food waste by reusing and utilizing crops and foods that are discarded at the production stage, which is the upstream of the entire food system. JAL is working to reduce this harvest loss by reusing and utilizing crops and foods that would otherwise be discarded at the production stage, which is at the very upstream of the entire food system. For example, broccoli stems, despite their high nutritional value and taste comparable to broccoli itself, are discarded during harvest. The lounge offered the "Farmer's Soup" made entirely from broccoli stems from July 2022 to March 2023. The company is addressing the issue of food loss & waste (harvest loss) in the field, such as using asparagus stalks, onion skins, and other ingredients in soups, and coffee bean shells, which are discarded in large quantities and have become an environmental problem, in cocktails, etc.

Even though farmers passionately grow their products, if the crops are deformed or have irregularities in shape, they must be discarded because they are deemed "imperfect crops” (out of the shipping standard). We are also very focusing on efforts to reduce these losses (“post harvest loss”). We use "imperfect” sweet potatoes to brew shochu, "imperfect” green onions to make soup to be served in our lounges, and frozen "imperfect” fruit to be served inflight. Quick freezing helps extend shelf life.

• In our analysis of food waste data, we confirmed that certain customers who prefer to forego their meal or prefer smaller portions, especially on late-night flights. For this reason, we introduced an inflight meal advanced cancellation service ("JAL Meal Skip Option"). This service allows customers who prefer to opt-out of the meal service to apply for the service, which in-turn lessens food waste. Japan Airlines is the first airline in the world to introduce this service onto all international routes.
  To ensure we give back in connection with the meal-skip service option, Japan Airlines has partnered with "TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) Program", Japan's first social contribution program by the non-profit organization TABLE FOR TWO International. For each inflight meal voluntarily canceled by customers, the airline will donate a certain amount of money to TFT, which will be used for school lunch programs for children in developing countries suffering from hunger.

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Based on the JAL Group's environmental policy, as JAL's unique initiative for resource recycling, cabin attendants collect and sort waste on board to recycle inflight waste by cooperating with recycling companies.

With cooperation of inflight catering companies and recycling companies, we recycle inflight waste such as aluminum cans, PET bottles, newspapers, and inflight magazines. For example, PET bottles which are normally incinerated (Energy recovery) get circulated into recycled PET bottles at beverage manufacturers. Also, the precision of separating the wastes is highly important to promote the resources circulation through recycling. Hence, we periodically check the sorting rate as well as the ratio of which actually gets recycled and improve it as necessary.

The JAL Group has been collecting and recycling paper cups used in domestic inflight services on applicable flights since December 2022 in collaboration with Nippon Paper Group. Until now, collected paper cups were only recycled into cardboard etc., however through a three-way collaboration with paper cup manufacturer Tokan Kogyo Co., Ltd. the horizontal recycling scheme of paper cups into paper cups was established in June 2024. We will continue to accelerate our efforts to promote resource recycling, by means of such as considering the expansion of applicable flights, etc.

Within the framework of its Environmental Management System (EMS), the JAL Group identifies opportunities to improve water efficiency and strives to reduce water conservation.
A goal has been set at the aircraft maintenance centers to reduce water consumption by 1% compared to the previous year.
Approximately 240 m³ of purified water used in aircraft maintenance and repaired components is recycled and recirculated per day at the sewage facility.
Industrial liquid waste strictly follows laws and regulations, and water quality is maintained thoroughly complying with standards in effluent treatment facilities established together with maintenance facilities.
We do not use industrial water. Additionally, in some ground facilities, recycled water is used as well as reducing the amount of daily water usage.
Education of water efficiency is provided to employees to raise awareness of water efficiency improvement.

• Conservation of water resources[621 KB : PDF]
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JAL Group promotes paperless by eliminating paper-based manuals for pilots and cabin attendants, as well as promoting remote meetings through work style innovation, and reduces paper waste in business, as well as improving operational efficiency.

In the cargo business, we are contributing to paperless operations and improvement of operational efficiency through digitizing the master air waybill and accompanying documents, which is our transportation contract with customers.

In the cargo business, we are contributing to paperless operations and improvement of operational efficiency through digitizing master air waybills and accompanying documents, which are required for transportation contracts with customers.The JAL Group aims to achieve a full digitization by FY2025.