If you’re a frequent Southwest Airlines flyer, you may notice some changes to the inflight service on your next flight.
Continue reading: Southwest Airlines Switches To Bamboo Cups, Wood Stir Sticks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Admittedly this is minor in the scheme of the environmental footprint of the airline industry, but every little bit helps.
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...
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.
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.
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"?
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.
Would much rather have plastic straws and paper cups. Not sure why they need to reinvent drinkware to reduce waste.
@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.
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.
Pretty cool
Seems more practical than retaining and cleaning the reusable cups
You’re killing the planet. Pandas need bamboo for survival. Who wants to drink out of a cup of chopsticks ?
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?
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.