In 2011, Delta Airlines generated 2.9 million pounds of non-hazardous waste, a reduction of 12 percent over 2010 levels. Just over 58 percent of this non-hazardous waste was recycled in 2011, according to the company's latest corporate sustainability report.
A recycling program of note is the company's partnership with information storage company Iron Mountain's secure shredding program. This initiative recycled 495 tons of paper in 2011. Delta says it saved 8,257 trees, 3.4 million gallons of water, 223,411 gallons of oil and 1.2 kWh of electricity from the program.
The company's in-flight recycling program, which launched in 2007 as a result of voluntary, staff-led, efforts to collect recyclable materials from customers on flights, recycled around 955,000 pounds of waste in 2011, down from 1.1 million pounds in 2010. Other recent waste management initiatives by the company include efforts to reduce paper use through electronic ticketing; recycling of aircraft carpet; and a facility for employees to recycle household goods on Delta's corporate campus in Atlanta, the report says.
Last year saw the company cut its hazardous waste production by around 12 percent, from roughly 1.37 million pounds in 2010 to around 1.22 million pounds in 2011.
In 2011, the company's carbon emissions increased one percent from 2010 levels, from 38.2 to 38.6 million metric tons of CO2e. Delta says the rise was due to a 0.8 percent increase in available seat miles flown by mainline and regional aircraft.
The company's overall greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 7.5 million metric tons, or 16 percent, between 2005 and 2011 (see graph below). Unsurprisingly, aircraft emissions represent 9
8 percent of Delta's carbon emissions - a percentage that has not changed since Delta's 2005 baseline. The company is currently working with The Climate Registry to establish a 2015 greenhouse gas emissions goal and has updated its 2005-2010 emissions numbers to ones calculated based on guidelines provided by The Climate Registry. According to the report, Delta had aimed to establish the 2015 goal in 2011, a target it evidently missed.
Delta is a member of the International Air Transport Association, a group that has the goal of improving fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5 percent each year from 2009 to 2020. Delta’s mainline fleet fuel efficiency declined 0.7 percent from 2010 to 2011 - due, Delta says, to a 1.2 percent decline in system load factor and various customer service and operational enhancements such as lie-flat seats, economy comfort seating and on-time initiatives that resulted in faster, less fuel-efficient flying.
However, despite falling back last year, the company is ahead of schedule on this goal. Since 2009 Delta has improved its fuel efficiency by 3.4 percent, from 36 liters of fuel per 100 revenue kilometers in 2009 to 34.8 in 2011. This represents a 1.7 percent average annual improvement, which exceeds the IATA goal.
The company's primary tactic for improving efficiency is to retire and replace older aircraft. Last year it retired 20 50-seat regional jets, 15 DC9 aircraft and 26 small turboprops. The report says this capacity was "backfilled" with larger, more fuel-efficient jets. Last year also saw Delta place an order for 100 new 737-900ER aircraft, for delivery between 2013 and 2018.
The company is also pursuing a wider fuel efficiency strategy whose initiatives include flying aircraft matched to routes and passenger numbers, and greater flight planning and air traffic management. The latter saved Delta roughly 70 million gallons of fuel in 2011, a reduction of more than 670,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the report says.
Earlier this month, Delta announced plans buy a refinery from oil giant ConocoPhillips in an effort to reduce its $300 million-a-year jet fuel bill.
Delta compiled the report using Global Reporting Initiative 3.1 guidelines. The company's sustainability reporting was recently ranked among the best in the airline industry.
