What we do

Our work

Established in October 2019, The Aviation Sustainability Forum (ASF) brings together competing stakeholders across the aviation inflight services sector supply chain and aviation governing bodies to discuss, debate and put forward sustainable solutions which address the environmental impact of the services offered to domestic and international passengers onboard commercial aircraft.

 

The ASF is incorporated in Singapore as a ‘Not for Profit’ Company Limited By Guarantee and is run by the membership for the benefit of the entire aviation sector. The work of the ASF is published openly and championed by the aviation sector’ governing bodies as a mandate for greater sustainability  across the Inflight Services product mix.

Product and Packaging Suppliers

Aviation Caterers

Airlines

Airports

Waste Management Operators

Academia

Non profit organizations

Governing & regulating bodies

Our mission

The scope of our work:

 

To collaborate with all key stakeholders involved in the inflight product and service delivery  supply chain to validate and improve the end to end sustainability and circularity of products and services offered to passengers onboard  commercial aircraft. Examples could include (non exhaustive):

 

– Food sourcing, production, handling, waste collection and waste management

– All forms of packaging – food and non-food

– Disposable and Reusable meal service tableware

– Amenity kits and Comfort Items

– Personal Protection kits

– Buy on board and complementary services

THE ASSOCIATION'S Objectives

Principle 1

The ASF brings stakeholders together from across the Inflight Services sector to develop sustainable product and service solutions that:

 

* Are sustainable at source and optimised for recovery and circularity as waste.

* Are developed and manufactured to sustainable practices

* Are adopted as a standard across the entire aviation network

Principle 2

To act as an independent organisation of significant enduring value to the aviation sector that is administered by its membership and whose governance structure represents our industry.

Principle 3

To support and promote beneficial projects for the inflight services’ industry, funded by the ASF’s membership and the associated grants available through government and regulatory bodies, the aviation sector and environmental organizations.

HOW WE FUND THE ASF’s WORK

The ASF is an independent organisation and is completely dependent on external funding.

 

If you are interested in finding out how you can support our work in the future, please contact us at: info@aviationsustainabilityforum.com

OUR PLEDGE TRACKER

SO FAR RAISED $126,000 FROM OUR $650,000 TARGET

OUR SUPPORTING PARTNERS

The allocation of all ASF funds is approved by the membership in order to meet strategic goals of the ASF which are also defined by the membership.

 

How to pledge your support?

 

Please click here to complete a pledge form.

WHERE WE OPERATE

The ASF operates globally. Our aim is to exchange knowledge, expertise and ideas to solve the complex problems of improving Inflight Services sustainability across a highly complex global supply chain, that involves multiple stakeholders and is both highly as well as inconsistently regulated. 

 

As we grow, it is the ASF’s intention to bring the industry closer together by holding both global and regional workshops in order to further define our scope of work and develop our programs collaboratively.

Our first study

Problem Statement: 

 

When should an airline consider using a rotable Food & Beverage service versus a disposable service and when using a disposable service, which packaging substrates should be used and standardised for optimal sustainability and circularity?

 

How can these recommended substrates then be accommodated within current aviation waste regulation frameworks or support a strong argument for waste regulation change?

The Body of the ASF has agreed the scope of its first project to be centred on addressing the following four deliverables:

 

Deliverable 1
 

“Map the end-to-end Cabin Waste Supply Chain from source to waste management of economy and premium economy rotable and disposable meal services” – COMPLETION DECEMBER ‘21 (please click here for our report)

 

Deliverable 2
 

“Evaluate when an airline should use a rotable set versus a disposable service based on journey duration, a carbon emission (CO2-e) evaluation and an end- to -end assessment of substrate life and the associated environmental impact” – EXPECTED COMPLETION FIRST HALF OF 2023

 
Deliverable 3
 

“Create a sustainable materials database to support decision making on which disposable packaging substrates to use when and why, taking into consideration the research & development direction of packaging substrates, food, and packaging waste management and associated waste regulation changes.” – COMPLETION 2023

 

Deliverable 4
 

“Publication of recommendations and alignment with global Aviation Governing Bodies for sector substrate procurement, waste management, and regulation change” – TIMELY PUBLICATION ON COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT

Future projects

The ASF team is planning together with its members to explore a number of projects related to: sourcing of food and material, manufacturing & production, logistics & supply chain, onboard loading & consumption and waste management.

 

These projects will be explored from an ESG perspective, generating definitive reports and recommendations to be adopted by the entire inflight services’ sector to allow all stakeholders to collectively improve the sustainability credentials of passenger inflight products and services.

 

Indicative future examples:

 

Based on a recent webcast polling of our collaborators, a range of priorities has been identified and will be considered by the membership for future projects – including:

 

* Food Waste

* Waste Management Harmonization

* Amenities and Soft Product

 

These priorities will be reviewed and further defined by the membership as we move forward.

ASF Project 1 Phase 1 report available for download