Southwest Airlines new circular economy partnership

(image credit Southwest Airlines)

An innovative partnership between Southwest Airlines and textile and accessories upcycling company Looptworks has resulted in 43 acres of leather collected from 80,000 discarded Southwest airplane seats being turned into weekender duffle bags, shoes, soccer balls and more, rather than being discarded.

 In Brief 

  • By repurposing the leather, the Southwest-Looptworks partnership helped to conserve over 4,000 gallons of water and avoid 72 per cent of associated CO2 emissions.
  • Looptworks partnered with a local nonprofit to provide career training for adults with disabilities who deconstructed the airplane seats and prepared them for upcycling.

 In Depth 

 In Future 

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smithhttp://www.jmcsmith.com
Jeremy Smith is the editor and co-founder of Travindy. He is a writer and communications consultant working for a more responsible and sustainable tourism industry. He is the author of two books, writes a fortnightly blog on responsible tourism for World Travel Market, and provides consultancy to a wide range of companies and organisations, ranging from National Parks to individual hotels and tour operators.

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