Delta Air Lines has reaffirmed its commitment to the removal of a variety of single-use plastic items, including stir sticks, wrappers, utensils and straws from its aircraft and Delta Sky Clubs.
In April it removed plastic wraps from international Main Cabin cutlery – a move expected to eliminate more than 300,000 pounds in plastic waste annually.
Additionally, Delta has formed a Youth Advisory Council to help guide the airline’s efforts to minimise the use of single-use plastics and support other sustainability initiatives. The council will complement the airline’s employee-led GreenUp group that connects with Delta employees to find meaningful ways for the airline to positively impact the environment.
“We’re looking broadly at how we can adjust our sourcing and behaviours to have greater impact on the local and global communities where we live, work and serve,” said Christine Boucher, managing director – Global Environment, Sustainability & Compliance. “Reducing single-use plastics is a natural extension of the work we’ve been doing for years to lead the industry in efforts to reduce our impact on the environment.”
Red plastic straws and stir sticks are already replaced in Delta Sky Clubs with environmentally friendly bamboo drink stirrers and birch stir sticks, and customers on-board will see the elimination of red plastic straws and stir sticks in favour of the same alternatives starting in mid-2019. Together, the changes will eliminate more than 183 million plastic straws and stir sticks from Delta’s aircraft and clubs. Compostable straws will be available in clubs for customers upon request.
From mid-2019, Delta One Tumi amenity kits will no longer have outer plastic wrappers.
