Waste

We are committed to reducing waste across our operations, in order to protect the environment and minimise unnecessary expenditure. Our priority is to cut waste, but we realise that some waste is inevitable and here we look for ways to reuse or recycle it.

Different parts of our business have different waste streams. For our resorts and retail stores, the main waste is paper, including unused and out-of-date brochures in our stores. On our aircraft, catering waste is a particular concern, as there are legal restrictions on how food can be disposed of in order to protect human and animal health and the environment. An additional complication for our airlines is that they are reliant on the waste processing facilities provided by airports.

Aircraft waste

Our airlines in Northern Europe and the UK have been tackling the issue of on-board waste. In Northern Europe, we set up Europe's first on-board recycling programme. When we found that the airports where our planes landed did not all have the necessary recycling facilities, we liaised with the airports and successfully encouraged some of them to make changes. The majority of on-board waste can now be separated on board then recycled or incinerated for energy recovery. Since starting this programme in 2001, Thomas Cook Northern Europe has reduced waste per passenger by 50%.

Our UK airline has also seen success in promoting on-board recycling within the industry. In collaboration with the Travel Foundation, we produced a guide to on-board aluminium recycling to encourage other airlines to get involved. In 2009, building on what had been achieved by the Travel Foundation collaboration, the airline established its own programme to recycle paper, cans, card and plastic across all short- and medium-haul inbound flights. This was further extended in 2010, so long-haul inbound flights are now also part of the scheme. Over the 2010 summer season, the airline collected nine tonnes of waste for recycling. No other UK charter airline has such an extensive and long-running on-board recycling programme.

Office and retail waste

Many of our offices and retail stores have established recycling programmes. In 2009/10, our UK retail network contracted with a new waste management company, in order to better manage the disposal of brochure waste and confidential paperwork. Since 2009, 1,784 tonnes of brochure waste have been collected for recycling, along with 14,073 bags of confidential paperwork. In 2010, Thomas Cook Germany achieved an impressive feat: all the company's waste from its head office in Oberursel was diverted from landfill.

Waste in resorts

In our resorts, waste from our own operations is small, so our main focus is on helping our suppliers and customers to manage their waste responsibly. For example, Sunwing employees based in Majorca collaborated with the local authority there to establish separate collection and composting of organic kitchen waste. This reduced waste to landfill from 600kg a day to just 15kg at the hotels involved. At all Sunwing properties, recycling stations are provided enabling holidaymakers to sort their waste into at least five categories. Our UK subsidiary Style Villas gives its customers a 'bag for life', to reduce plastic bag consumption and waste. A bag for life scheme was also trialled at seven hotels and apartment complexes in the Paphos area of Cyprus in 2009/10. Over 40,000 plastic bags were saved as a result, thus avoiding litter and waste to landfill.

Performance data

We measure our total waste and the amount per employee, as waste streams like paper vary according to the size of the business. Our recycling rate of 45.9% means that, of the average 274kg of waste produced by each employee per year, only 144kg is sent to landfill. This figure reflects all the work that has been put in by our employees to manage our waste, and we will continue to work to reduce our waste to landfill even further.

Waste

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