Iberia goes to war on plastic

Bamboo stirring sticks, items stripped of their plastic packaging plus the re-use and recycling of cabin waste are among measures being taken by Iberia after the airline set a goal to reduce the use of plastic on its flights by 68.5 tonnes a year.

The carrier says sustainability is a top priority and reducing, re-using and recycling plastic is one of its key strategies. Initiatives include paper replacing plastic for wrapping blankets and duvets.

In other developments, plastic packaging of some items in long-haul Business Class toilet kits has been eliminated, headphones are no longer wrapped in plastic and plastic wrapping on children's kits on long-haul flights is being eliminated.

Elsewhere, plastic swizzle sticks for beverages have been replaced with bamboo ones, paper drinking straws have replaced plastic ones and plastic bags used for collecting and storing used linen, blankets and pillows are now thinner.

Iberia says it has also reduced plastic use on the ground at its premium lounges in Madrid Airport, where returnable glass bottles have replaced cans and plastic containers and suppliers have been asked to use bulk formats for many goods.

www.iberia.com

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Bill Salt, Iver, Bucks

IAG - Perhaps Aer Lingus should also consider reducing plasic packaging. I recently purchased a cup of tea on the LHR-DUB and was surprised by the amount of plastic I received: To be fair, the cup with plastic lid containing the tea was probably recyclable. This came with a plastic knife/spoon, milk in plastic tubes, sugar, paper napkin in a sealed plastic bag which also contained a plastic waste bag - sealed in its own plastic bag ! I'm guessing that the greatest proportion of the purchase price was probably the plastic! At the end of the flight the whole lot was collected in plastic bin bags. Surely there must be a few opportunities to reduce plastic useage/waste here ?