A PILOT TO REDUCE SINGE USE ACROSS THE AIRPORT
Over 150 tonnes of single use items are thrown away at Oslo Airport yearly. This is equivalent to the weight of around four empty Boeing 737 airplanes!
Not only do single use items lead to significant costs in waste handling (over NOK 300 000 yearly) but they are also a poor solution from a circular and environmental perspective.
The problem with single use serving
Single use items are rarely, if ever recyclable. For example, paper cups are usually made from a combination of cardboard and plastic, which cannot be recycled. Even items made from solely paper are often contaminated, and thus cannot be recycled as paper. Biodegradable and compostable single use items are also generally not suitable for recycling. This means that, as a rule of thumb, single use items must be thrown away as residual waste and therefore end up in incineration (Source: Eunomia Report (europe.eu))
The solution: Take away without the throw away
In November 2024, Oslo Airport is launching a reusable take away pilot at selected serving units in the International Departures section of the Terminal. This initiative is being carried out as part of the EU project TULIPS in collaboration with TU Delft, focusing the research aspects. Two Select Service Partner units will be offering guests the option to get their meal in a reusable take away bowl: Haven and Havsalt. The reuse technology is delivered by GRIN and Kleen hub, and the reusable bowls are supplied by AION.
How does it work?
The concept is simple:
- Tap your card or other payment options upon buying food
- Take your bowl of food
- Enjoy your meal wherever in the terminal
- Return the bowl to one of the return boxes
Our cleaning personnel will be emptying the boxes daily, washing and redistributing them to the serving units in question.
Borrowing a bowl is free and without any apps! You will not be charged with any fees if you return it to one of the boxes in the terminal within a week.
In this pilot, we are not able to offer a solution for taking the meal on the plane. If you plan to eat your meal on board, tell the cashier so they can prepare it for you in a single use solution.
Why bowls?
While we indeed sell a large number of coffee in paper cups each year, these cups are often customized with branded designs and come in different sizes, making it somewhat challenging to transition to reusable in the short time span of this pilot. On the other hand, bowls have fewer size variations and are less likely to be branded by the serving unit. Having that said, if this pilot proves to be successful, we would like to expand the reusable system to include coffee cups as well.
What happens after the pilot?
We will be gathering feedback from customers, serving unit employees and cleaning personnel, next to monitoring return rates. At the end of this pilot, we will evaluate weather this concept is viable to introduce across the entire airport, in other airports in Norway, and for other types of serving articles (e.g. drink cups).