In a further effort to create long term-term sustainability initiatives, Dubai based Emirates Airlines has made a commitment across its entire network to reduce single-use plastics on board its aircraft. From 1 June, the airline introduced eco-friendly paper straws, and shortly all Emirates flights will be completely free of plastic straws.
As well as replacing plastic straws, Emirates will also phase out the use of plastic swizzle sticks and stirrers and replace them with more eco-friendly options by the end of the year, and the plastic bags used for in-flight sales will be replaced with paper bags. It is estimated that this will remove over 81 million single-use plastic items from landfill every year.
Also as part of its ongoing efforts, an initiative suggested by cabin crew now sees Emirates separate the large plastic bottles used on flights to be recycled in either Dubai or other cities around the world, which is estimated to have taken 150,000 plastic bottles or 3 million tonnes out of Dubai landfill alone each month.
Over the past few months, Emirates has been conducting a full review of the use of plastics on board, and the airline will implement other initiatives over coming months to reduce plastic use and waste.