While we’ll see if this goes anywhere, Alaska Airlines has just run an interesting trial, and I can’t help but wonder if it could work on a larger scale.
In this post:
Alaska Airlines trials reusable cups in place of paper cups
October 20 is National Reuse Day, so Alaska took the opportunity to conduct an interesting trial. The Seattle-based carrier partnered with r.World to take its sustainability efforts to the next level. The airline performed a feasibility study on a roundtrip Seattle (SEA) to Minneapolis (MSP) trip, where all passengers were served out of reusable cups, rather than disposable plastic cups.
The cups are designed to be durable and fully reusable, and have apparently been popular with concertgoers and sports fans. After use, the cups can be collected, cleaned, and sanitized, and are made ready for their next journey.
The airline views this as part of an exploration into additional ways to reduce onboard waste, including eliminating single-use waste. The goal is to bring sustainability innovations to the carrier’s fleet, and the broader travel industry.
Alaska has a long history of trying to innovate when it comes to eliminating onboard waste. In 2018, Alaska became the first US airline to ditch plastic straws and stir sticks onboard. In 2021, Alaska replaced plastic water bottles with boxed water, served from 92% plant-based cartons. Then in 2023, Alaska became the first airline to offer a plastic-free beverage service to guests onboard, swapping out plastic cups for paper cups.
I wonder if the economics of this could work
Airlines are of course between a rock and a hard place when it comes to many environmental initiatives. They want to reduce their footprint whenever possible, but also have to balance that with the cost of such initiatives, especially given how low margin the industry is.
I can’t help but be curious about the economics of these reusable cups, since it almost seems to me like this could work, but only if it were scaled. Current cups obviously have a certain cost, but are single-use, so the cost can’t be amortized across multiple passengers.
Presumably these cups would be quite a bit more expensive, though I doubt that’s the main roadblock here. Instead, I suspect this comes down to the costs to clean these cups. Yes, airline catering kitchens are massive and very efficient, but cleaning the quantity of cups we’re talking about is probably no small task, and the logistics aren’t necessarily easy either.
I suppose another consideration is how often cups need to be replaced — sometimes people will take them, sometimes people may break them, etc.
As of now, Alaska doesn’t seem to be indicating that it has serious plans to roll this out on a widespread basis, instead noting that this is just a trial, and could be used to come up with other initiatives as well.
Bottom line
Alaska conducted an interesting trial, whereby the airline operated a flight with reusable cups, in place of paper cups. This is part of a feasibility study on the carrier’s part. It’s no doubt creative, though it sounds like there aren’t plans to roll this out on a more widespread basis anytime soon. It would be cool if this could scale, and I wonder if the industry could eventually head in this direction.
What do you make of Alaska’s trial with reusable cups?
Wow, the comments are pretty crazy. I think as a society we have mastered the art of washing cups. I can’t get how you can travel and be stressed about this. You know how many people farted in your airplane seat?
Society may have mastered washing cups, not all industrial employees will doe their job correctly. I imagine the methods of washing plastic are critical.
In my opinion, chances of catching any bacteria or virus from a seat are minor if there is no open wound.
My background included courses is achieving sterility and countless mandatory continuing ed on the subject.
So, since Alaska changed their mileage plan, I could not get my favorite combination of Condor Transatlantic plus onward to Maui in 'J' for 55K anymore, but now it is 85K, and the leg from West Coast to Maui in Eco. And no, I won't waste another 115K or whatever to fly in their 'First Class' on that final leg, especially since they don't serve pre-departure bubbly. So I opted for their 'Premium Eco' or...
So, since Alaska changed their mileage plan, I could not get my favorite combination of Condor Transatlantic plus onward to Maui in 'J' for 55K anymore, but now it is 85K, and the leg from West Coast to Maui in Eco. And no, I won't waste another 115K or whatever to fly in their 'First Class' on that final leg, especially since they don't serve pre-departure bubbly. So I opted for their 'Premium Eco' or whatever they call that relatively decent legroom crap, for an extra 180 bucks or so. You can pre-order food, and drinks are free. So, since I prefer to spend my time in a aluminum bin for 5 hours + with some gin-tonics, which happens to be my in- flight drink since 50 years, I ordered some of those. Unfortunately they serve the worst gin I ever had in my life, 'Aviation Gin' which tastes like some weird chemical concoction, and they served it in some kind of cardboard cups, that started dissolving after the second gin, adding to the terrible taste of that utterly substandard gin. I will bring a real glass with me the next flight, because that was just disgusting!
Surprised on the uproar here. I'm no environmental zealot but there is a shocking number of plastic cups used per flight, why wouldn't you just clean and reuse them like we do with glassware etc in premium cabins? Why is it unclean if it's plastic and not if it's glass? It can't be the case that the environmental impact of washing them is worse than discarding them and manufacturing new ones on demand.
Airlines went from proper glassware to plastic cups (to reduce weight) to paper cups (to reduce environmentalist yipyap) and now back to plastic cups (again to reduce more environmentalist yipyap).
How about having some balls and doing what's right for the customers instead of going round and round in circles trying to please the Greta Thunbergs of this world, who can NEVER be pleased?? Glassware is the best: infinitely more classy and more reusable...
Airlines went from proper glassware to plastic cups (to reduce weight) to paper cups (to reduce environmentalist yipyap) and now back to plastic cups (again to reduce more environmentalist yipyap).
How about having some balls and doing what's right for the customers instead of going round and round in circles trying to please the Greta Thunbergs of this world, who can NEVER be pleased?? Glassware is the best: infinitely more classy and more reusable than plastic ever will be.
Some absolute braindead comments by people who apparently think restaurants throw away glasses after every use.
As someone who did work in a large kitchen, we had a constantly running "drive thru" dishwasher where the cups and plates are loaded onto pallets and then they journey through the different stages in under 1 minute before popping out the other end sanitized.
Mmmmm…..sounds lightweight. Perfect for the galley at the back of a A320.
I assume the required sanitizing (if not sterility) is achieved by very hot water. What happens when the water, for some reason, is not hot enough? Either the water traveled far from the heater or the loads overwhelmed the hot water source. Does the minimum wage employee stop the process and force the kitchen to stop? or is the lack of safe temperature ignored?
I would be happy if the items were fully dried but it does not sound like the equipment would do that.
Polypropylene will be recyclable soon enough. PureCycle Technologies has licensed the technology from Proctor and Gamble and is working on recycling at scale.
Technically the cost of the cup would be depreciated, not amortized…
I’ll have my lager in the can, thank you.
Absolutely disgusting! It is already a major concern when hot water heaters are not properly cleaned on plane. Now this? I will be bringing my own one use paper cups on flights.
Have you been to a restaurant before? Many feature reusable plates, utensils, and glasses!
So what is the environmental impact of heating the water, the water itself and all the other things that would go into washing these services items..... I wonder if that's a good trade off. I'm sure someone (hopefully) has put research into that.
Yes. At r.World, we have analyzed all the environmental impacts of reuse with a Life Cycle Analysis and reuse wins on all measures provided the cups are reused. And, on Alaska Air, we get a 99.8% harvest rate!
I would rather use a reusable mug.
Remember Mexicana Airlines way back when? They were an all-coach airline, but all beverages on USA-Mexico flights were served in glassware!
Loved Mexicana's Golden Aztec Service !
Reusable cups is disgusting.
Make sure to squeeze them so they crack so they cant reuse!
Are you a child? Do you break cups at restaurants because you hate that they’re not single use? Get the absolute heck over yourself…
Does anyone actually think these glasses are sanitized properly?
Probably as much as regular glasses, plates, and cutlery are sanitized.
As far as I can understand, sanitizing happens when the surface is clean and dry. This can happen in an industrial dishwasher. I really can't understand how they clean and dry plastic cups. I do know that I will NOT use them.
Economics aside, probably it is better for the environment to use disposable cups and recycle them than to transport these cups back and forth to a facility and wash them with detergent etc. Just like disposable plastic bags at your local gorcery store are actually better for the environment than a reusable shopping bag.
The problem is that most to nothing in the US is recycled.
Thank God. It's about time! I expect this move will start to lower global temperatures and moderate storms.
Yes, as CEO of r.World I can confirm every one of these glasses is cleaned and dried properly r.World EcoLab Certified sanitization hubs meeting every local and FDA requirement.
We have completed a life cycle analysis and reuse beats single-use for this application.
Drinking out of a plastic cup degrades the enjoyment of the beverage. If Alaska is moving to reusable cups, proper glassware should be used.
The way they can elevate the travel experience. Nothing is worse than serving pre-departure drinks in plastic cups in First Class.
"Nothing is worse" ... glad OMAAT reraders are not prone to hyperbole.
In long haul economy, many airlines already have a reusable plastic cup included on trays for the tea and coffee service. If they can clean and reuse those cups on such a large scale, I am not sure how this is different provided the cups are durable enough.
Unless this is eco friendly highly suspect. They would be doing this already across Europe.
This was probably some sponsorship of some sort. A single roundtrip on a single plane is hardly a study. Did they even use the same cups outbound vs inbound?
Delta also did a similar test but does not appear to have implemented it so apparently the economics or logistics didn't work.
While reducing waste is laudable, water is also a resource and having enough water and then cleaning it up after soap is poured into it is not a cheap or easy task.
as for the "this is how it is done in first class" there is a difference in storing and cleaning...
Delta also did a similar test but does not appear to have implemented it so apparently the economics or logistics didn't work.
While reducing waste is laudable, water is also a resource and having enough water and then cleaning it up after soap is poured into it is not a cheap or easy task.
as for the "this is how it is done in first class" there is a difference in storing and cleaning glass and plastic.
There are also concerns about chemicals leaking from plastic which might increase with the use of hot water.
Good on Alaska. For the morons who complain, ever realize first class has always been served reusable cups? This initiative expands that to economy in a scalable fashion.
We should be happy Alaska employs smart people and not morons who comment on the internet. As a matter of disclosure, I am a former employee of Alaska Airlines, and enjoyed the experience very much, before I took my career in a different direction.
There are less people in biz and first such that the cutlery and glass can be washed without compromising quality. Try 10x that, and you are bound to have sanitary issues, at least in the beginning. Overall, I’d just be double checking the glass to make sure there aren’t any visible marks or lipsticks before using them. (Just like you should be doing when flying first and biz anyway).
Soap gives morons like you brain damage.
you are the moron
So you pour boxed water into a reusable cup....
And then these cups are being washed and not inspected for lip marks and lipstick I presume. Raise your hand if you've still had lip marks on your glass at a restaurant.
I haven’t. I only dine at places with proper dishwashing. That’s what life is like when you’re partner at Paul, Weiss.
Must be nice to only use styrofoam cups at McDonald’s donkey.
At breakfast at a higher end Hotel.
Every cup is inspected by our AI quality assurance system to make sure only clean, sanitized cups are delivered.
This reminded me of JAL's rent a few days' wardrobe campaign they had to reduce luggage weight. I wonder how much traction that is getting? Do these initiatives make any material impact?