Avianca Cargo steps up sustainability with BioNatur Plastics

Colombia-headquartered freight carrier Avianca Cargo has stopped using conventional plastics in its pallet covers, instead turning to biodegradable plastics.

The biodegradable plastic now being used is produced by BioNatur Plastics. It is manufactured with a 1% load of an organic, food-safe proprietary additive that allows anaerobic bacteria to digest the plastic within a landfill site.

According to Avianca Cargo, which said the investment is the latest phase of its Sustainable CargoLab initiative, it has so far purchased more than 1,000 boxes of biodegradable plastics, thus avoiding the equivalent of more than 3.2m 16 oz plastic bottles ending up in landfills.

These BioNatur biodegradable plastics, which degrade over a period of between eight and 12 years and not the 1,000 years that conventional plastic might take, are now being used as pallet covers across each of Avianca Cargo’s stations.

Moreover, BioNatur’s biodegradable plastic is said to be of the same quality as conventional plastic and can be recycled for a second use.

Chris Paladino, chief executive of BioNatur Plastics, said his company’s products represent “one of the best solutions for use in [Avianca Cargo’s] operations, being the only one that works in all scenarios such as recycling, landfill and incineration”.

Diogo Elias, Avianca Cargo’s senior vice president, added: “We are committed to mitigating the environmental impact of the air cargo industry and will continue to work towards projects that contribute to this mission.”

The airline’s CargoLab initiative has also so far included the voluntary participation of Avianca employees who submitted different ideas on how to minimise the impact of the carrier on the environment.

The employees held different training sessions to plan and develop their projects, which were presented to different judges; from these, four have been chosen to be put into effect.

Avianca Cargo is by no means the only freight services provider to turn to the sustainability of BiioNatur’s plastics.

American Airlines Cargo, for example, is using BioNatur Plastics products to replace traditional plastic used for stretch wrap and pallet covers.

The carrier began moving to BioNatur Plastics products at major US hubs in early 2022.

And in December last year, ground handler Menzies Aviation confirmed that it would switch to BioNatur Plastics biodegradable wrapping in its cargo operations.

The handler said that the switch would reduce long-term plastic waste by more than 5m water bottles each year.

And, back in February 2023, US handler Alliance Ground International (AGI) began converting all plastic sheeting used in its cargo shipping to BioNatur Plastics products.