If you’re a frequent Southwest Airlines flyer, you may notice some changes to the inflight service on your next flight.
In this post:
Southwest tries to reduce single-use plastics from inflight service
Southwest Airlines is switching some of its service items to reduce single-use plastics. Specifically, the airline has started serving cold beverages in bamboo cups, and has started offering wood stir sticks with the carrier’s iconic Heart branding:
- The new cup is made from 93% non-plastic materials, with a pulp blending 75% bamboo and 25% paper, and a polyethylene lining
- The new stir stick is made from 100% birch wood
The Dallas-based carrier expects the new items to reduce inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually. The airline is continuing to explore new sourcing initiatives to address single-use plastic packaging across inflight operations.
This is only the carrier’s latest initiative. In July 2024, Southwest transitioned to a paper overwrap for its napkins, made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials, fully eliminating plastic from this service item.
Meanwhile in the coming months, Southwest will introduce a new select-a-snack offering on flights to and from Hawaii, which will decrease food waste and reduce single-use plastic packaging by at least 18,000 pounds annually. There aren’t more details about that yet, though I’m curious how exactly this will eliminate food waste.
Here’s how Helen Giles, Southwest’s Managing Director of Environmental Sustainability, describes this initiative.
“We expect our new bamboo cold cup, wood stir stick, and other initiatives to exceed our goal to reduce plastics from inflight service by 50% by weight by 2025, and we’re excited to continue collaborating with our suppliers to work toward our goal of fully eliminating, where feasible, single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030. It’s been a year of work since we announced our Nonstop to Net Zero strategy, including our initiatives to tackle single-use plastics in our inflight service. Today’s announcement celebrates the hard work and dedication of many Teams across Southwest to meet these goals.”
This seems like an all-around positive change
Based on the reports that I’ve seen so far, the new cups seem to be pretty sturdy, and hold a comparable amount of liquid to the old cups. So this development seems positive to me, since it’s an easy change that’s good for the environment.
I would assume Southwest goes through more cups than any other US airline, based on how many flights the airline operates. Southwest isn’t the first US airline to make a change like this.
In early 2023, Alaska eliminated plastic cups, instead transitioning to paper cups. This is an area where Alaska has been leading in general, from switching to boxed water, to even trialing reusable cups (though I doubt that goes anywhere, at least for the time being).
Bottom line
Southwest Airlines hopes to eliminate 1.5 million pounds of plastic annually by transitioning from plastic cups and stir sticks to bamboo cups and wood stir sticks. This seems like a sensible change that’s a win-win. Admittedly this is minor in the scheme of the environmental footprint of the airline industry, but every little bit helps.
What do you make of Southwest switching to bamboo cups and wood stir straws?
I'm old enough to remember when we all had to switch from paper everything to plastic everything to "save the trees". Just a new generation of stupid.
1. Greenwashing is alive and kicking.
2. China still the world's biggest environmental polluter (30% global pollution emissions).
You and your cute bamboo cups are 100% ineffectual at curbing pollution - actually worse than ineffectual! - until China acts.
Are you implying the rest of the world is using bamboos to retaliate against China by starving their Pandas from food supplies?
Southwest is anti-Panda. All the more reason to fire Bob Jordan.
You’re killing the planet. Pandas need bamboo for survival. Who wants to drink out of a cup of chopsticks ?
Dumb and dumber!
Pretty cool
Seems more practical than retaining and cleaning the reusable cups
Greenwashing at its finest.
Let's cut more trees to save plastic?
Is the problem of "single-use plastics" actually a problem because of "single-use" or because of "plastics"?
Neanderthal.
an Eskimo is fully-human.
polyethylene is a plastic. If they coat bamboo w/ polyethylene, they might eliminate the ability for the bamboo to be recycled and postpone its decay.
See Tim, you're still doing just fine without the fluff.
You just are fixated on a few things to miss the rest of what I write
We are just looking for unbiased input. You don't offer that often.
He DOES offer "Premium"-Biased™ content, though.
True.
I was once on an airport recycling committee with my colleague from Delta (we got wind of what they were wanting to impose on airlines and figured the best way to disrupt something is from the inside) and met a variety of recycling people (for lack of a better term) from those who managed the actual sortation facility to county/state-wide environmental people. There are such specific requirements for something to be recyclable, mainly...
True.
I was once on an airport recycling committee with my colleague from Delta (we got wind of what they were wanting to impose on airlines and figured the best way to disrupt something is from the inside) and met a variety of recycling people (for lack of a better term) from those who managed the actual sortation facility to county/state-wide environmental people. There are such specific requirements for something to be recyclable, mainly clean of labels/stickers/contaminants, that most public recycle cans are pretty much a waste of time. Something like less than 20% of what came out of airport recycling was really usable without significant post-collection effort. Sort of enlightening.
Atlanta, actually in partnership with Delta and AirTran at the time, was a leader in single stream recycling. Delta made the decision that supporting the airport efforts (to supplement its own) significantly cut costs of recycling such as crew separating/storing/etc into different bags on the flight and then being transported different places upon removal from the aircraft. The Material Processing Facility (or "MURFF" as it was called) sorted out what was or wasn't usable.
@NedsKid
Recycling is an overated scam to make people feel less guilty.
Just like carbon credits, so we basically can pay to pollute our planet and don't feel guilty about it.
Just like cigarettes in the 60s, guess who paid to lobby about the benefits of recycling?
Exxon and CA is an interesting read.
Ideally it works, reality is just like what you said and I think 20% is a generous number or ATL and DL is really putting an effort.
@Eskimo: The amount of effort (aka money spent) is slightly less than whatever the maximum return on investment (tax credits or incentives) will be for participating.
Would much rather have plastic straws and paper cups. Not sure why they need to reinvent drinkware to reduce waste.
The footprints (plural)--emissions from flying, and waste from disposable drinkware--do ought to be addressed separately.
Single-use items, plastic or not, are not sustainable for the planet. Reusable glass cups exist and are used in first class. Use them in economy class too!
Glassware for all adds additional weight to aircraft and increases fuel burn, adds additional needs for catering vehicles to service aircraft, adds much more commercial dishwashing, etc. Though remains to be seen the overall impact of that versus increased recycling...
It's really not important.
I'm guessing you don't consider it important because you don't think the planet warming up is an issue. Good thing you don't have any children or grandchildren.