Case study: How Delta reduces the waste it generates
As a global aviation industry leader, providing scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo across the United States and around the globe, reducing the waste that it generates is important both for meeting Delta’s environmental compliance commitments and for reducing its overall environmental impact Tweet This!.
This case study is based on the 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report by Delta published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Delta continually assesses its waste streams and waste handling operations to identify high-value materials for reuse and recycling, as well as ways to minimise what it sends to landfills. In order to reduce the waste it generates Delta took action to:
- reduce hazardous waste
- responsibly manage non-hazardous waste
- reuse materials
- recycle materials
Subscribe for free and read the rest of this case study
Please subscribe to the SustainCase Newsletter to keep up to date with the latest sustainability news and gain access to over 2000 case studies. These case studies demonstrate how companies are dealing responsibly with their most important impacts, building trust with their stakeholders (Identify > Measure > Manage > Change).
With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Delta has identified;
- How Delta proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Delta to reduce the waste it generates
Already Subscribed? Type your email below and click submit
What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report Delta identified a range of material issues, such as environmental compliance, carbon emissions/climate change, community support and engagement, customer safety and security, supply chain management. Among these, reducing the waste it generates stands out as a key material issue for Delta.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Delta engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Investors | · Annual shareholder meetings · Annual report, quarterly earnings and proxy statement · External recognition, ratings and rankings · Investor Day |
| Customers | · Customer Satisfaction Survey · Social media |
| Employees | · Employee Satisfaction Survey · Employee Involvement Group (EIG) · TechOps EIG · Reservations Liaison for Information Networking and Communication (ResLINC) · Airport Customer Service and Cargo Frontline Involvement Team (FIT) · Velvet-360 Tour · Town Hall Program · Delta Board Council |
| Suppliers
| · Supplier ESG Assessment · Supplier Diversity (MBE, WBE and SBE) engagement |
| Governments | · Collaborative partnerships with governments and NGOs around the world |
| Nongovernmental organisations | · Industry associations · External recognition, ratings and rankings |
| Communities | · Delta Air Lines Foundation · Social media |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Delta distributed a questionnaire on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues to its stakeholders, who included customers, employees, investors, governments, suppliers, nongovernmental organisations and communities.
What actions were taken by Delta to reduce the waste it generates?
In its 2016 Corporate Responsibility Report Delta reports that it took the following actions for reducing the waste it generates:
- Reducing hazardous waste
- Delta recognises the negative societal and environmental impacts of the improper handling and disposal of hazardous waste – including harm to the health of employees and local communities. Accordingly, Delta meets all applicable regulatory handling and disposal requirements, and achieved its 2016 goal for reducing hazardous waste: 432.22 tons, a reduction of more than 13 tons compared to 2015. Establishing such goals increases transparency, and compels Delta to constantly identify ways to reduce its environmental impact.
- Responsibly managing non-hazardous waste
- Understanding and handling Delta’s complex mix of waste material streams means that not all non-hazardous waste that is generated can be recycled or diverted from a landfill. Working to achieve the highest possible diversion rate, Delta continually tries to identify both materials and opportunities to increase its landfill diversion efforts. Thus, in 2016, Delta targeted year-over-year improvements for reducing the non-hazardous waste volume generated in its operations.
- Reusing materials
- Delta has established relationships with a variety of vendors and partners, to further reduce its environmental impact. Through these partnerships, Delta employees identify high-value items for reuse, and Delta’s vendors and partners receive the materials to give them a second life, as new products or as product inputs. These innovative diversion programmes, known as upcycling, also contribute to environmental responsibility, by reducing the amount of new materials needed to produce new products in the marketplace. Accordingly, working with its partners, in 2016 Delta diverted 11,456 pounds of life vests, 22,771 pounds of leather seat covers and 12,537 pounds of curtains from landfills through upcycling efforts. Additionally, stations across the system routinely donate Delta’s red in-flight blankets to shelters, and in 2016 Delta added reusable cabin curtains to its landfill diversion efforts.
- Recycling materials
- A major way Delta is reducing its environmental impact is by identifying and diverting valuable recyclable materials from its waste streams. Delta is doing this both through recycling goods on flights where it maintains control of the materials at a station level, and by encouraging employees to recycle at home and at work using Delta’s Atlanta-based Employee Recycling Centre. In both efforts, Delta donates all rebate funds earned to Delta community and employee support programmes.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 306-2 Waste by type and disposal method
2) Disclosure 306-4 Transport of hazardous waste
Disclosure 306-2 Waste by type and disposal method corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
- Business theme: Spills
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
- Business theme: Waste, Water-related ecosystems and biodiversity
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Business theme: Waste
Disclosure 306-4 Transport of hazardous waste corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
- Business theme: Spills
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Business theme: Waste
78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards
SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.
Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.
7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started
Any size business can start taking sustainability action
GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom (venue: London School of Economics)
- Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
- Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
- Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP.
- Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Delta, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
Note to Delta: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.