The flight towards eliminating single use plastics items
The reduction of single-use plastic waste is a hot topic nowadays and everyone who is someone is trying to minimise the amount of plastic waste in all aspects of their life – and that includes when flying. The plastics plague if one were to call it…is simply not just due to the huge amount of plastics we use and throwaway in everyday life, but also due to the extraordinary long length of time it takes to disintegrate. A tiny plastic straw, for example, can take nearly 200 years to disappear from the environment.
Many hotels have pledged to reduce their plastic usage. In the travel industry, many companies are also working to reduce their plastic waste. However, for other players in the tourism sector, it may not be that easy.
Take airlines for instance. Consider how many single-use plastic throwaways a passenger would encounter on a long-haul flight. Ask for a blanket – no problem, here you are all plastic-wrapped for your comfort. Ask for some water – here it is… inside a half-sized plastic bottle with a plastic wrapped cap and a plastic cup to boot. Just after takeoff, you are given your head phones - bagged in plastic and pretty soon the beverage you requested for is served in a plastic cup and to keep you even happier, pretzels in a tiny plastic-packed bag are also offered.
Meals on a long haul flight can include a salad and dessert in melamine containers - both cling wrapped, bread roll in individual plastic bag, a plastic bag holding the sachets of salt, pepper and condiments, an elongated plastic bag containing your fork, knife and spoon, toothpick and stirrer - all of plastic.
Come mid-flight snack time and it doesn’t ease off either. Be it a cheese sandwich or a doughnut – bet you, it would be plastic wrapped and to help wash the food down, you may receive another half-sized plastic bottle filled with water - and of course another plastic cup.
There are some airlines though who are trying hard to remove several individual items that fall under the single-use plastic equation. A single use plastic is something that is used only once, and is most often plastic wrapping for food, plastic cutlery, cups and tumblers and toiletries wrapped in plastic amenity packs.
Drinks stirrers out of bamboo, wooden cutlery, bio-degradable wraps and coffee cups, paper –wrapped blankets and bedding and headsets sans plastic wrapping are some of the alternatives on the war against single use plastics by several airlines. Other initiatives aim at replacing plastic tumblers, cups and butter packaging.
Unlike in hotels, the changes in the airline industry can take a while to occur. Weight for an aircraft is a critical factor. Light weight food services items help lower the onboard weight of the aircraft. Hence, using conventional dishware and cutlery, as found in hotels, simply will not work. Apart from the weight factor, collecting, clearing, washing and sanitizing dishware and cutlery for re-use, will be a time consuming and logistical nightmare. It’s a question of making the right choices - where heavier options can weigh heavily on the weight of the aircraft and impact on emissions.
Until all these changes to eliminate or reduce single use plastic items takes place …or until we have the ultimate ‘plastic-free’ flight, what if every airline passenger were to just hang on to their cup for refills, instead of getting a new one every time they felt parched.
Ilzaf Keefahs – writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike.
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