Southwest Airlines brings bamboo cups to in-flight service - Inflight

Southwest Airlines has introduced a bamboo cup and wooden stir stick for cold drinks onboard, to progress towards its goal of eliminating single-use plastics from inflight service by 2030.

The cup is made from 93 per cent non-plastic materials, a blend of 75 per cent bamboo and 25 per cent paper, with a polyethylene lining, while the stir stick is made from 100 per cent FSC-certified birch wood, featuring Southwest’s Heart design. These new products are expected to reduce inflight single-use plastics by over 1.5 million pounds per year, with an internal analysis showing that cold cups and stir sticks accounted for two of the largest sources of plastics.

“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,” said Helen Giles, Managing Director of Environmental Sustainability at Southwest Airlines. “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.”

The airline transitioned to paper overwrap as napkins in July 2024, made from 100 per cent recycled materials, and in the next few months, there will be a new service where passengers select a snack on flights, which is expected to reduce food waste and single-use plastic packaging by approximately 18,000 pounds per year.

Photo: Southwest Airlines