Southwest Boeing 737s Cut Plastic With Bamboo Cups And Wood Stir Sticks

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While most news about Southwest Airlines has focused on its boardroom battles, the carrier announced a sustainability initiative last week that it expects will reduce inflight single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually. To do that, Southwest is swapping out cups and stirring sticks for more eco-friendly options made from bamboo and wood.

On Monday, Southwest Airlines (Southwest) introduced a new bamboo cup for inflight cold beverages and a wood stir stick with the airline's iconic Heart branding. The changes are part of Southwest's project to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030, where operationally and commercially feasible.

This is the latest element in Southwest's Nonstop to Net Zero strategy, which is built around the concept of Circularity. This means working toward reducing waste by maximizing the value of resources by keeping products and materials in circulation as long as possible.

Southwest said this can happen through reusing, recycling and considering what happens to a product at the end of its lifecycle from when it is sourced. Southwest Managing Director of Environmental Sustainability Helen Giles said:

"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."

Part of the strategy includes an interim goal of reducing plastics from inflight service by 50% by weight by 2025, and with the changes announced this week and other initiatives in place, the airline believes it will exceed that target. The low-cost carrier analyzed the sustainability of its inflight service items to identify opportunities to cut waste and identified the two largest sources of single-use plastics, which were cups for cold drinks and stir sticks.

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The airline developed an action plan to replace these two items, which involved exhaustive testing among customers and employees this year. The planning work showed that switching to bamboo cups and wooden stirrers will reduce single-use plastic usage by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

Southwest continues to look for new sourcing options to address single-use plastic packaging, as called for under the Nonstop to Net Zero strategy. Other Circulalrity-themed projects include:

All of the latest additions are among its longest routes.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) are two non-profit organizations that certify forest products as sustainably sourced. Both organizations use independent third parties to verify that forests are managed responsibly.

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