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RECYCLING and COMPOSTING needed

sddarnell
Explorer C

When I fly now, I try to always just ask for a can, no ice or cup.  I am trying to be zero waste on these flights. 

SW says they recycle, but really they can only recycle the cans. ALL the plastic cups and napkins go into the trash. If you think about how we all use those plastic cups for maybe 30 min of a flight, and then throw them out with SW, that is a massive amount of garbage and waste.

I have written to SW too in hopes that they could switch to just little cans for everyone and we can all live without ice. They could be cold already.

Also, they could switch to paper cups, which at least eventually disintggrate!  The new way of our world needs to be to compost as much as possible, so if there was compost at some of the airports (like in Seattle) that would at least work with the paper cups for those flights. 

 

 

3 REPLIES 3

Re: RECYCLING and COMPOSTING needed

dfwskier
Aviator A

Southwest does more recycling than you give it credit for.

 

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Repurposing/bd-p/repurposing

Re: RECYCLING and COMPOSTING needed

sddarnell
Explorer C

That's great! Thank you for the post. I think, however, it is also a way to teach ALL the people who fly with them! By allowing people to get the plastic cups each flight, we are continuing to say it is OK to just throw stuff away after one use. 

Signs about their recycling and what they are doing more of, for people like me who will read it, would be great!
I didn't know about things in that article. Also, maybe having it in their magazine or the snack/drink card would be good too!

They can be a valuable teacher to their passengers.

 

Re: RECYCLING and COMPOSTING needed

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@sddarnell wrote:

 

Also, they could switch to paper cups, which at least eventually disintggrate!  The new way of our world needs to be to compost as much as possible, so if there was compost at some of the airports (like in Seattle) that would at least work with the paper cups for those flights. 


I like to bring my durable mug with me as well, many airports now have water filling stations.

 

IMO the plastic cups won’t be going away until customers ask for it with people asking for just the can.

 

Not sure about mini-cans, they lose economy of scale for pricing and container to liquid ratio which makes the shipping more expensive.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.