Now, fly in a plane powered by garbage

British Airways has an ambitious plan to convert municipal waste into 120,000 tonnes of jet fuel.

By 2017, they say, the first factory in the world to turn garbage into jet fuel will be up and running. Waste-fuelled transatlantic flights could come soon after.

According to ClimateWire, it's all part of a plan that will make flying a little more environmentally friendly, Stuff.co.nz reported.

British Airways' head of environment Jonathan Counsell said that turning trash into biofuel generates twice as much energy as incinerating it for trash.

To that end, British Airways has partnered with Solena Fuels to build a trash-to-jet fuel conversion facility at, appropriately enough, a former oil refinery just east of London. The facility will take the waste cities already collect and turn it into fuel.

While trash-to-jet fuel has been floated as an idea, this new facility represents a large-scale commitment to putting that idea into practice.

British Airways has said it will buy 50,000 tonnes of jet fuel a year from this facility.