Alaska Airlines 16
Álaska Airlines 16non-plastic, naval-quality straws are available on demand.
As a result of this project, the carrier has joined forces with the charitable Lonely Whale in Seattle. By 2017, Alaska had distributed 22 million stirrers and lemon pickers - an amazing number when you consider that plastics are too light to be recycled and end up in landfill and waterway instead. As Alaska says, it will also be replacing "most" of its 32-46 oz juicers with more easily recycled aluminium containers this sommer.
This is not the first occasion that the airlines have taken steps to be more environmentally aware. Alaska last year substituted its on-board bottle of cold alumina drums for light aluminium ones and changed its policies to using plastics cups: the cabin crew started to refill glasses instead of replacing them with new ones during each round of drinkservice.
Over the past eight years, Alaska's cabin crews have gathered 12,000 tonnes of recycled material - in other words, the same mass as 244 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft. Although Alaska is the first US wearer to do without synthetic stalks, it is not the only one in the world: The New York Times reported that Fiji Airways and Thai Airways have said they will "significantly reduce" their disposable plastics on board, and even Ryanair, the giant airline in the New York Times, is on board and promises to be "plastic-free" on all departures by 2023.
The London City Airport has forbidden the use of blades of plastics, as has Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts at its 110 Outpost. Vanuatu was the first country in the whole wide range to prohibit the use of synthetic straw a few years ago.