Air New Zealand has unveiled plans to enhance the removal of single-use plastic items from its operations, as part of its sustainable efforts.
Image: Air New Zealand has eliminated individual plastic water bottles from its Business Premier and Premium Economy cabins to mark Plastic Free July. Photo: courtesy of Willfried Wende from Pixabay.
The airline aims to double the removing of single-use plastic items form 24 million to nearly 55 million items this year.
To support Plastic Free July, the Air New Zealand has eliminated individual plastic water bottles from its Business Premier and Premium Economy cabins, as well as from its Works Deluxe offering on Tasman and Pacific Island services.
Air New Zealand’s initiative is expected to help divert more than 460,000 bottles from landfill per annum, in addition to reducing carbon emissions by over 300,000kg per year by decreasing weight on the aircraft.
The airline is presently removing individual plastic sauce packets from Business Premier cabins on mainland North America and Hong Kong services, and plans are underway to completely eliminate from the global network by the end of October.
Air New Zealand plans to serve in reusable dishes, which will help stop around 200,000 plastic packets entering into landfill each year.
The airline is also planning to introduce coffee cups made from plants rather than plastic across its domestic and international networks from October, and plastic water cups will be replaced with recyclable alternatives from September.
Air New Zealand noted that it intends to introduce the lower impact cups across the international network to increase the total number of cups being replaced this year.
Air New Zealand sustainability acting head Anna Palairet said that the airline is focused on reducing the amount of single-use plastic products it purchases at source, as the lack of composting infrastructure in New Zealand at present poses a challenge.
Palairet further added: “Single-use plastic is a highly topical and visible issue for us and our customers, so we’re really pleased to be able to share this progress to celebrate Plastic Free July.
“The lack of composting infrastructure available in New Zealand is a challenge so we have been focused on reducing the amount of single-use plastic products we purchase in the first place.”