In 2017, Emirates introduced its sustainable blankets made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The soft and warm blankets are made using ecoTHREAD patented technology and is available in Economy Class on all long-haul Emirates flights.
Each Emirates ecoTHREAD blanket is made from 28 recycled plastic bottles. With the latest innovation, the bottles are recycled into plastic chips before being turned into yarn, creating a polar fleece material. The fine thread is then woven into the soft blankets.
The environmentally-friendly blankets are designed in partnership with Buzz, the world’s leading inflight product specialists, and are part of Emirates’ continued commitment to product innovation and sustainability.
By the end of 2019, Emirates ecoTHREAD blankets will have rescued 88 million plastic bottles from landfills– equivalent to the weight of 44 A380 aircraft.
This initiative makes it the largest sustainable blanket programme on board in the airline industry. In addition, the manufacturing process of using recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) reduces energy emissions by 70%.
ecoTHREAD is certified with the Intertek Green Leaf Mark by third party testing and certification body Intertek, independently verified to use 100% recycled materials.
As part of its long-term vision and fuelled by a cabin crew member’s suggestion, the airline has been segregating large plastic bottles on board to be recycled in Dubai and the rest of the world. This diverts an estimated 3 tonnes or about 150,000 plastic bottles from landfill in Dubai each month.
The Emirates ecoTHREAD blanket for Economy Class completes the recent comforter overhaul across all three classes. The airline introduced a plush, faux sheep-skin blanket in First Class and soft duvets in Business Class.
Emirates Economy Class cabins are also equipped with the largest in-seat screens in the world in Economy at 13.3 inches and more than 4,000 channels of on-demand entertainment on the award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice Digital Widescreen.
