One answer to inflight rubbish might be to eat it. A group of London-based industrial designers says this isn’t as daft as it sounds - it has come up with an edible meal tray design that could revolutionise the post-flight rubbish removal process. By Jeremy Torr.  

London, November 2019. Design studio PriestmanGoode has a new motto for air travellers: Get Onboard: Reduce. Reuse. Rethink. And taking a parallel cue from Bart Simpson’s “… eat my shorts” quip, they decided that instead of just offering a catchy phrase, they would produce a workable version of the traditional inflight meal tray – that you can eat.

"We all travel, whether for work or for leisure - it's an integral part of our lives," explained Kirsty Dias, comms director at PriestmanGoode. "But what we (often) don't realise is the waste we, as individuals, create in that process."

As part of its research, the company found that the average airline passenger produces around half a kilogramme of single-use plastic waste every time they take a flight that offers inflight refreshments, entertainments and food. When added up for every flight and every passenger over time, this equals an eye-watering 5.5-plus million tonnes of cabin waste every year - including eye-masks, headphones and food waste.

So PriestmanGoode decided to try to help cut this down. "The idea was to eliminate plastic waste, and to replace like for like," said Dias. "Things that are currently rotable (washable and reusable) could continue to be used, but elements that are discarded, like single-use plastic, could be replaced with a sustainable alternative," she suggested. And what is more obviously sustainable than something you can eat?

Armed with this glaring yet unusual alternative (although the ice cream cone is a prime example of this approach), the design team looked at what was on offer, and came up with their solutions. The meal tray itself has been made from coffee grounds and husks bound together by lignin, and the food containers that fit into the tray have been made from pressed wheat bran. Soluble seaweed is used instead of plastic for those little sauce, milk and garnish containers. The combination fork and spoon is made from compostable coconut wood and the drinking cup is made from crushed rice husks lined with waterproof algae film.

And although almost everything (maybe not the spoon) can be theoretically eaten, even if it is not, the leftovers can be stacked inside the main lid which can then be put into a central organic collection container for disposal into the local compost facility.

“While there is currently no perfect solution (to inflight plastic disposables), this design proposal aims to encourage suppliers and airlines to rethink the meal service in a more eco-friendly manner,” says Dias. "We don't want to take anything away from passengers, but a lot of doubling up on things people generally travel with means we end up with vast amounts of (unsustainable) waste in landfill."

As an optional add-on for the more sustainably-minded travellers, the company has extended its remit with a compostable travel drink bottle made from bio-plastic and cork. Designed to last well beyond the length of an average holiday before it gets soggy, it can be refilled regularly, then simply thrown into the compost when the trip is over, or when it is obviously at the end of its waterproof life.

“We want to raise awareness of how much waste is created when we travel,” says Jo Rowan, PriestmanGoode Strategy Director. “And we want to explore alternatives that address the supply of products and services, but also what each individual can do to lead us to a more sustainable travel industry.”

Something to chew on, certainly.