Air France to Eliminate 210m Plastic Items by Year End

• Air France to Eliminate 210m Plastic Items by Year End

In commemoration of the World Environment Day, Air France has announced its decision to eliminate about 210 single-use plastic items onboard its flight by the end of the year.

“It is the end of the road for plastic cutlery, cups, stirrers etc. For this year’s World Environment Day, passengers on flight AF378 from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Detroit were offered products made of bio-based materials instead of single-use plastic items usually distributed on board, in keeping with airline rules and health regulations,” the airline said in a statement.

The airline said it planned to eliminate 1,300 tons of single-use plastic, which would be replaced by sustainable alternatives on all flights.

“In this way, Air France will eliminate 210 million single-use plastic items by the end of 2019. This represents 100 million plastic cups replaced with paper cups; 85 million plastic cutlery items replaced with products made from bio-based materials and packaging; and 25 million plastic stirring sticks replaced with wooden stirrers,” the airline stated.

It added that since November 2018, it had replaced the plate and cutlery sets used for the second meal on long-haul flights with a “BON APPETIT” bag and that by the end of the year, these innovations would result in the elimination of 1,300 tons of plastic.

The airline explained that since 2015, it stopped supplying plastic drinking straws on board, representing a reduction of 1.3 million plastic items.

The statement read in part, “Flight AF378 on June 5 from Paris to Detroit is operated by Boeing 787-9, the latest addition to the Air France fleet. A new-generation aircraft, the Dreamliner offers a large number of operational advantages, including 20 per cent lower fuel consumption than older aircraft and a significantly reduced noise footprint.

“Pilots will optimise the flight path according to the weather conditions and the weight of the aircraft. These eco-piloting techniques will make it possible to achieve a controlled fuel consumption of around 2.7 litres per passenger per 100 km. Air France is committed to reducing its environmental footprint in order to offer its customers a responsible travel experience and acts on a daily basis to limit the impact of its operations.”

The airline said it had three major objectives to meet the challenge of reducing its environmental footprint and they would be to reduce and offset its CO2 emissions; reduce, recycle and reprocess its waste; and reduce the noise footprint of its operations.