Emirates isn’t new to up-cycling, but this year, it has focussed its environmental efforts on part of its inflight experience. What is often seen as a small static-inducing luxury in economy (and often kept as a souvenir) could be one of the least environmentally-friendly passenger experience products.
However, the Dubai based carrier has started a rather smart initiative by introducing new sustainable blankets made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The soft and warm blankets are made using ecoTHREAD™ patented technology and is now available in Economy Class on all long-haul Emirates flights.
Fabrics made of plastic aren’t new, but innovations in the sky are always a welcome plus. Each Emirates blanket is made from no-less-than 28 recycled plastic bottles. With the latest innovation, the bottles are recycled into plastic chips before being turned into yarn, creating a polar fleece material. The fine thread is then woven into soft blankets.
The environmentally-friendly blankets were designed in partnership with Buzz, the world’s leading inflight product specialists, and are part of Emirates’ continued commitment to product innovation and sustainability. Emirates already has green-fingers. It runs a green programme on board recycling aluminium cans, plastic and glass bottles, and clean paper products such as newspapers, magazines and cardboard cartons where possible.
By the end of 2019, Emirates ecoTHREAD blankets would have rescued 88 million plastic bottles from landfills– equivalent to the weight of 44 A380 aircraft. It may not be the first carrier to use ecoTHREAD, but this initiative makes it the largest sustainable blanket programme on board in the airline industry.
This new blanket for Economy Class completes the recent comforter overhaul across all three classes. The airline introduced a plush, faux sheep-skin blanket in First Class and soft duvets in Business Class.
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