Lufthansa Cargo said it became the world's first cargo airline to use more environmentally-friendly film for transportation.

In a statement, Lufthansa noted that it needs about 500 tons of plastic film worldwide to protect its freight during transport.

Rollout by mid-September

"As part of its sustainability strategy, the company has been working for many years to reduce the need for plastic and to establish the most environmentally friendly handling possible at its approximately 300 stations around the globe," Lufthansa said.

"Starting in mid-September, Lufthansa Cargo will be the first cargo airline to use a new type of film that consists of 10% recycled plastic and is also one micrometre (one µ) thinner than previous films," it added, noting that this means that about two kilograms less film is needed on each cargo flight.

Dorothea von Boxberg, chief executive officer of Lufthansa Cargo AG, noted that plastic waste has become a major problem for the environment worldwide — and consequently became a major concern of the cargo carrier.

"We are therefore particularly concerned to reduce our need for plastic and —  to use it in a way that conserves resources... every step we can take to make airfreight logistics more sustainable is important to us — in the air as well as on the ground," von Boxberg said.

"We are particularly pleased to be the first cargo airline to be able to use a more environmentally friendly film in the transport of our freight after many tests at selected stations and good cooperation with our specialist departments, our waste disposal company and our film producer. This brings us a step closer to our goal of using our plastic film in a circular way," the Lufthansa Cargo chief added.

Lufthansa noted that its goal is a "closed-loop" use of the recyclable material plastic.

"The development of a sustainable plastic film is a long-term task on which we have worked intensively with Lufthansa Cargo. Together, we have developed requirements for the new film, tested it in operation and can now introduce it as a standard product worldwide at Lufthansa Cargo," said Peter Griebel, managing director of Verpa Folie Weidhausen GmbH.

"Now we have set ourselves the goal of successively increasing the recycled content of our plastic film to 30% by 2025."

Lufthansa Cargo has also established multiple uses of plastic film as a standard handling process since March 2022.

The carrier said this step will also gradually contribute to reducing overall consumption. The airline is also focusing on the collection and disposal of end-of-life materials and further improvements in handling the plastic film are in progress.

"At the end of the year, further optimization of the films is on the agenda: In the future, Lufthansa Cargo wants to use films from the manufacturer Verpa that contain recycled content on the one hand and are also biodegradable on the other," Lufthansa said in its announcement.

Lufthansa noted that in the long term, it also wants to find local film manufacturers worldwide who can produce the plastic film according to its strict sustainability criteria and make it available locally — ideally in the future made from sustainable biogenic raw materials.