We’ve added six new stations to our in-flight recycling program!

Last month, Baltimore, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, and Washington, DC began recycling on all flights and nearly 25 more stations will join them mid-July. See complete list below.

Since the beginning of the program in June 2007, our flight attendants have helped raise $80,000 toward funding a Habitat for Humanity EarthCraft home being built in Jonesboro, Georgia this September. An EarthCraft home is built with energy efficient appliances and environmentally sustainable products and materials.

Our overall goal for the program is to reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills and use revenue from recycling to support foundations such as Habitat for Humanity. The program also reduces our waste costs, which saves Delta money. Recycling is a prime example of how environmentally sustainable practices are not only the right thing to do, but also support our economic viability.

Next time you’re flying into one of the below cities, remember to recycle your aluminum cans, plastics bottles (caps can be left on), newspapers, and magazines.

• Atlanta, GA
• Baltimore, MD
• Cincinnati, OH
• Cleveland, OH
• Denver, CO
• Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• Los Angeles, CA
• Portland, OR
• Raleigh-Durham, NC
• Salt Lake City, UT
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC

Do you have any other recycling tips when traveling to share?

Meghan
Sustainability Intern
Environmental Health

Problem: Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. We all emit CO₂ when we drive, fly, use electricity, generate waste and even when we breathe.

Solution: Now you can actually invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. So on one hand, you produce, and on the other, you reduce.

Climate change has become one of the most talked about environmental and social issue of the century.

To tackle this challenge, people, industry and organizations have modified their normal processes to help reduce their contribution of CO₂ emissions. There are programs available that allow you to pay a calculated price to offset your carbon footprint by investing in greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction projects. Examples of these projects are carbon sequestration, habitat protection, methane digestion and renewable energy. The price is calculated by assessing either your overall lifestyle or a certain part of your lifestyle (flying, driving, energy consumption, etc.).

Delta was the first domestic airline to offer carbon offsets to our customers. Last June we partnered with The Conservation Fund (TCF) to help protect and restore natural habitat across the world. Today, when you book on delta.com, you can make a contribution to TCF’s Go Zero program to plant trees to offset the carbon emissions from your flight.

Picture: Delta’s own Steve Tochilin and Jaime Jewell assisted in the planting of more than 234,000 trees on 775 acres as part of a joint effort to help enhance wildlife habitats and fight climate change.

On June 10^th, representatives from TCF, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Environmental Synergy Inc (ESI), Delta, U-Haul and others, joined to announce the restoration of 775 acres of forestland in central Kansas. The Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge supports a mix of wetlands, bottomland and upland forest and tallgrass prairie habitats. Across the nation, nearly 80 percent of bottomland hardwood forests have been cleared for farmland and tallgrass prairies have been reduced by 99 percent. The land was planted by ESI and will be managed by the USFWS. ESI will monitor the newly restored forest for carbon accumulation using on-site measurements over time.

To calculate your carbon footprint:

Meghan

Sustainability Intern

Environmental Health

In my opinion, Delta has taken industry-leading steps towards confronting Environmental Sustainability, and they just took one step further: they hired me! Of course I am not referring to myself, but to my position: Delta’s Sustainability Intern. But what exactly is sustainability and what steps are we taking to “Green” Delta?

I am Meghan Reger and I have a wonderful cubicle in the Environmental Health office at Delta’s Atlanta campus. I consider myself an environmentalist, but I don’t lobby Congress or write hate mail to Exxon Mobil. I do believe there is an intricate relationship between the environment and human behavior and that environmental sustainability is a serious challenge facing all companies and at Delta we have taken some significant steps to reduce our environmental footprint, but we know there is much more to be done.

My mission for the next few months will be to provide a fresh set of eyes and ears, to think outside the box in applying sustainability concepts at Delta. I will be posting weekly with tips, information, and current news regarding how you and we can become more Environmentally Sustainable and share our plans to become more sustainable in the future including recycle bins, carpooling stickers, and carbon offsets.

And what do I mean by ‘sustainable’? Check out this video for a quick look into what sustainable development entails.

Let me know what other green topics you’d like to see this summer.

Meghan

Sustainability Intern

Environmental Health