From August to December, LATAM Airlines will recycle more than 20 tons of aluminum, glass and plastic through a new onboard recycling program, Recycle Your Journey.

The program will recycle packaging and other items from Mercado LATAM, the carrier's onboard food service provider, and will roll out through domestic flights in Chile and LATAM's Latin America operations. The goal is to eventually recycle all packaging on all flights.

Aluminum, glass and plastic are currently being collected from passengers by the cabin crew and sorted. On arrival, the recyclables are picked up by LSG "sky chefs" and transported to local recycling centers.

Recycle Your Journey was in development for more than a year prior to its launch and underwent four trial programs. By 2020, LATAM says it expects to recycle more than 55 tons of onboard recyclables that were previously sent to landfill.

"As one of the three most sustainable airline groups in the world, we are committed to bringing about change and leading by example," President of LATAM Airlines Group Ignacio Cueto says in a news release. "Today’s launch of our ‘Recycle your Journey’ program on domestic flights in Chile represents just the first step towards the introduction of onboard recycling across our network.”

"Collaboration and cooperation are key aspects of the program," he adds. “Without the support and willingness of our passengers and the commitment of our cabin crew, onboard recycling is not possible."

J.P. Mascaro & Sons, headquartered in Audubon, Pennsylvania, received more than $7.5 million in competitively bid long-term municipal waste collection and recycling contracts. Several Pennsylvania municipalities awarded the company contracts, including Muhlenberg, Hamburg, Catasauqua and Newton. 

“Our company really appreciates the new long-term waste collection and recycling contracts recently awarded to us by the municipalities of Muhlenberg, Hamburg, Catasauqua and Newton, and we look forward to serving these communities and their residents,” says Sam Augustine, director of sales at J.P. Mascaro & Sons.

The company also received a five-year operating permit from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to operate the Brooke County Landfill in Colliers, West Virginia. 

According to a news release from J.P. Mascaro & Sons, the Brooke County Landfill is one of two Mascaro-related landfills in West Virginia, the other being the Wetzel County Landfill in New Martinsville, West Virginia. Those two landfills serve as primary disposal facilities for waste collected by the operating divisions of Solid Waste Services of West Virginia Inc., a J.P. Mascaro-related collection company that serves municipal, commercial and industrial customers in the panhandle region of West Virginia and in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

“The Brooke County Landfill is an important component of the operational infrastructure of the Mascaro-related waste service businesses in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” says Ryan K. Inch, company director of engineering at J.P. Mascaro. “These businesses not only serve our municipal, commercial and industrial customers, but also are important to the thriving Marcellus and Utica Shale gas development activities occurring in that three-state regional area.”

Giving to students

J.P. Mascaro & Sons has announced that it has awarded $1 million for student scholarships and supplemental education programs for the 2019-2020 school year. According to a news release from J.P. Mascaro & Sons, the awards have been distributed to more than 90 schools, including the St. Catherine of Sienna School in Reading, the John Paul II Center for Special Learning in Shillington, the City School in Philadelphia, the Regina Angelorum Academy in Plymouth Meeting, the St. Cornelius School in Chadds Ford, the AIM Academy in Conshohocken, the MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, the Upland Country Day School in Kennett Square and others.

“During the last seven years, the Mascaro company has awarded approximately $9 million for student scholarships and supplemental educational programming,” says Lindsay Mascaro Ptaszenski, company director of education. “My grandfather and company founder, Joseph P. Mascaro Sr., was a man with a limited formal education, but he was a huge proponent of education in general and of young students having the best educational opportunities possible, regardless of their financial standing, and as a company, J.P. Mascaro & Sons feels the same.”

J.P. Mascaro & Sons company President, Pat Mascaro, says, “When a company commits to funding student scholarships and educational initiatives, it is also committing to the betterment of the local community as a whole. J.P. Mascaro & Sons is proud to have participated substantially in such funding in the past, and it looks forward to doing so for many years to come.”

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, applauds Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyoming; Ranking Member Tom Carper, D-Delaware; Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore-Capito, R-West Virginia; and Subcommittee Ranking Member Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, for their introduction of America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act (ATIA). This 5-year, $287 billion bipartisan surface transportation bill reauthorizes EPW’s portion of the FAST Act, which is set to expire in September 2020. Committee markup is scheduled for July 30.

“Apart from the waste and recycling industry and the U.S. Postal Service, one would be hard-pressed to name another industry that travels every road in America at least once a week, every week,” says Darrell Smith, NWRA president and CEO.

“Nearly 200,000 miles of major highways require repairs and more than 47,000 bridges are deemed ‘structurally deficient,’ all of which impacts our industry’s ability to deliver its services that are essential to maintaining the quality of American life efficiently and in a timely manner,” Smith says. “Introduction of this legislation is an important first step in addressing our nation’s transportation infrastructure needs.”

The bill also will authorize new programs to incentivize key priorities, including safety, resiliency and emission reductions. ATIA increases funding to the existing Highway Safety Improvement Program and supports state-led initiatives to lower driver and pedestrian fatalities.

“NWRA will advocate for safety provisions in the bill to support state ‘move over’ laws covering the waste and recycling industry,” says Jim Riley, NWRA vice president for federal affairs. “Members of Congress are increasingly aware of the danger our industry’s roadside workers face every day from careless and distracted drivers. This is a prime opportunity for Congress to make a statement and do something significant to help protect these hardworking men and women.”