In the UK, Manchester Airport Group (MAG) reported that the UK risks missing out on a significant opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint by continuing to incinerate household waste, rather than use it to make SAF. Every year, around 8.5m tons of household rubbish are burned to make electricity when items cannot be recycled or re-used, according to transport sustainability experts ICF. A further 7.3m tons are burned with no energy recovery at all. Instead of being incinerated to make electricity, the same waste could be used to produce SAF at new refineries across the UK – giving airports a direct supply and creating tens of thousands of new green jobs, according to MAG. Ken O’Toole, CEO of MAG – which runs Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports and commissioned the ICF study – said: “It is proven that SAF has the capability to power the planes of the future and will be instrumental in the decarbonization of air travel in the coming years. The benefits of turning household waste into SAF are clear – it’s better for the environment, reducing emissions by at least five times more than using it to make electricity. It can also contribute to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs and be a significant driver in helping UK aviation reach its target of net zero by 2050.”
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