Alaska Airlines to eliminate plastic straws systemwide

Alaska Airlines will eliminate plastic straws on aircraft and airport lounges across its domestic and international network from July 16, the Seattle-based carrier said May 21.

As part of the airline’s initiative to reduce inflight waste-per-passenger by 70% by 2020, Alaska will stop distributing single-use, non-recyclable plastic stir straws and citrus picks for beverages systemwide, and will replace them with sustainable white birch stir sticks and bamboo citrus picks. For passengers that insist on or require straws, “non-plastic, marine-friendly” straws will be offered, Alaska said.

The decision “build[s] on our grassroots, employee-led recycling program,” Alaska Airlines sustainability manager Jaqueline Drumheller said. “[And] the next step to protecting our lands and oceans [is] by removing single-use non-recyclable plastic straws from our planes.”

Alaska is partnering with US-based nonprofit ocean advocacy group Lonely Whale on the project. The airline estimates it handed out 22 million plastic stir straws and citrus picks in 2017.

“The banning of single-use plastic beverage straws sets a new standard for the travel industry,” Lonely Whale executive director Dune Ives said. “Alaska Airlines is the first US airline to lead the charge.”

For its part, Alaska has reportedly reduced its generated passenger waste to landfills by 54% since 2010. “In the last eight years, flight attendants captured 12,000 tons of recyclable materials, about the weight of 244 Boeing 737-900ERs,” the airline said. Additional measures implemented include replacing bottled beer with light-weight, easily-recyclable aluminum cans and refilling passengers’ plastic cups during new rounds of inflight beverage service instead of replacing them.

Other North American airlines have yet to announce their own bans or policies on plastic straw use, but the effort is gaining momentum globally. Fiji Airways and Thai Airways have both reportedly pledged to curb single-use plastic on their flights, and Irish LCC Ryanair, in its environmental policy, touts a five year plan to eliminate plastics by 2023. Additionally, London City Airport banned plastic straws from its retail food and drink outlets on May 2.

Source: atwonline