The recent Southwest Airlines steps show its effort to minimize environmental footprints through several new inflight items which are designed to reduce the use of single-use plastics. The company has recently released two new inflight products that will decrease its consumption of single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds a year according to an October 29, 2024, release: a bamboo cup for cold beverages and a birch wood stir stick. These new products are part of a broader commitment by Southwest to sustainability through its Nonstop to Net Zero strategy, which has committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The bamboo cup is 93% non-plastic and comprises 75% bamboo with 25% paper and a lining of polyethylene. The US Green Building Council recognizes bamboo as a rapidly renewable resource since it takes only 3-5 years to be mature, in keeping with its friendliness to the environment. The birch wood certified by Forest Stewardship Council will be used to make the stir stick. The company is keen to follow sustainable and responsible sourced raw materials. This followed Southwest’s thorough analysis on a number of areas concerning plastic waste in inflight offerings, which included cold drink cups and stir sticks, in particular.
The green-friendly items are part of fulfilling Southwest’s target of putting an end to single-use plastics, where possible, on its flights by 2030. These new items follow another effort the airline: last month, it switched all of its napkin overwraps to 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and this year, it’s planning to roll out a “select-a-snack” option for travelers on flights headed to or from Hawaii. It estimated to cut 18,000 pounds of waste per year from single-use plastic packaging and food waste.
It has also been reported by Helen Giles, Managing Director of Environmental Sustainability at Southwest, in an interview about its commitment to achieve more in the reduction of inflight plastics than initially set-that is by 2025. In this direction, she states that its partnership with the suppliers becomes very crucial to take further steps towards making Southwest move towards its ambitions of fully removing single-use plastics used in inflight services.
New in the Southwest family is a small yet meaningful element – the new bamboo cup and wood stir stick. Part of Southwest’s larger strategy on sustainability, these gestures indicate that the airline company not only proactively takes its position with plastic waste and environmental responsibility but also pushes a higher standard for the airline industry. Through these initiatives, Southwest not only tries to reach its sustainability goals but sets a milestone for companies as to how transition could be made to much greener practices while operating.