Delta Air Lines is burnishing its “green” credentials by trialing reusable plastic cups in economy class. There are better ways to promote sustainability than using toddler cups.
Delta Air Lines Toddler Cups: Good Effort, Bad Idea
Each year, Delta claims it creates 7 million pounds of plastic waste alone from its single-use plastic cups. This month, Delta is testing reusable plastic cups as well as paper cups onboard.
Finding the perfect cup is more challenging than it may seem – and the obvious choice isn’t always the most sustainable when weight and cup liner materials are considered. The plastic replacement needs to withstand hot, cold and alcoholic beverages while delivering a consistant customer experience.
Delta hopes to “minimize” its use of single-use cups by 2025.
I’m not enthusiastic about these sorts of “toddler” cups. We use these at home for my three-year-old, but I cannot imagine putting my mouth on a plastic cup that has been used several times in the past. Maybe that is just me (and I’m by no means a germaphobe), but I’m not going to use any cup that has a bite mark on it.
Furthermore, I tend to think the cost, time, and energy involved in trucking them to catering facilities, washing them, and trucking them back may not even lead to a net positive gain in terms of carbon footprint reduction, just transfer it to a less visible source of waste.
That said, I do think Delta is thinking about sustainability in the right way.
Pam Fletcher, Delta’s Chief Sustainability Officer, explains:
“Sustainability isn’t only good for our planet, it’s a business imperative that requires meaningful action today. That’s why this year’s flights focused on scalable solutions that can be put into play more broadly in the short and medium terms.”
Indeed, the ability to scale when Delta has such a complex operations cannot be minimized.
For example, remember how Aloha Airlines used to offer all passengers meals on ceramic using metal cutlery and real glasses? I loved that…but it was sustainable because of the limited operation Aloha Airlines ran (and even then, it ultimately cut that to cut costs).
I do think Delta can use reusable metal cutlery instead of those nasty paper utensils. Both European and Asian carriers have been using metal cutlery in economy class for years. Glass cups? That’s going to be a bit much.
Single-use plastic is easy and cheap – that’s why so many use it. It just makes sense from a short-term perspective. And yet even from a long-term perspective I find it difficult to imagine that thick plastic cups are the answer.
Yet I have to laugh at Delta’s broadest goal, which is “eliminating the company’s climate impact from flying.” What foolishness. Does that mean Delta is going to stop flying? As long as Delta flies, even with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), it is going to create a lot of pollution.
And don’t be fooled by the promise of SAF. I just heard a report on BBC yesterday explaining that there is nowhere near the amount of animal byproduct needed to create sufficient SAF to justify demand. Plus, there’s a big downside to SAF: humanity’s meat consumption is a huge contributing factor to carbon emissions. Are we we really going to increase our meat consumption to create more pigs for more aviation fuel?
I continue to believe that the only viable long-term solutions are carbon capture, millions of more trees, and improving desalination technology such that our duel problem of rising sea levels and water shortages can be addressed by converting ocean water to potable water.
CONCLUSION
I’m not a big fan of reusable plastic cups…I dislike drinking out of plastic cups period…but I really question whether investing in these heavier cups and then washing them is going to save much in terms of carbon footprint.
In the larger picture, no airline will be able to eliminate its carbon footprint from flying. But carriers can participate in research and development in technology that may be able to counteract the pollution that flying will always create. That seems like a better investment to me.
(H/T: PYOK)
This is a very cynical view. Any effort to reduce single use waste is a step in the right direction. Do you never drink out of reusable cups at restaurants? This is the same thing.
May be cynical, but I don’t like reusable plastic and we see many examples, like the battery in my Tesla, of the unintended consequences of thinking we are being sustainable but merely moving waste to a different source.
But even this is misguided. Every disposable cup that is used is probably from oil drilled in the US, shipped in barrels to Asia, manufactured, then shipped back to the US for use on flights. Trucked to every airport across the country. Every single hour, every single day.
This is how manufacturing is for the US. Trucking some cups 5 miles down the road to massive dishwashers is way more efficient.
What restaurant is serving reusable plastic cups? Pizza Hut?
This is penny wise pound foolish on Delta’s part.
A lot, actually.
You see it a lot with the lower end chain type places. Think Denny’s. Also many mom and pop coffee shops and diners.
+1
I like it.
Have you seen how MUCH trash each & every flight generates, Mr. K!?
There are more important issues to write a hit piece about: like serving moldy blueberries in F.
And no one’s complaining about glassware being rewashed and reused, sounds like a thicker plastic cup is a net positive for the customer experience instead of a soft flappy cup. I agree with the environmental gesture though, sounds mostly useless.
I would not consider this a hit piece. I’ll reserve that for my recent 18-hour mechanical delay on Delta…
They’re already trucking away the dirty dishes, silverware, place cloths, and napkins. So it’s not like an extra truck is needed for these reusable plastic cups. Just load them up on the same truck with the dirty dishes and put them in the same dishwasher.
Did you hear about this Matthew?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/30/delta-air-lines-lawsuit-carbon-neutrality-aoe
Sounds like you and the other bloggers are totally OK with reusing glassware in FIRST CLASS, and metal cutlery through the plane, but not with durable plastic cups in economy. What’s wrong with trying this out? Not misguided at all. Casual sit-down restaurants have been serving drinks in plastic cups for decades and you don’t hear about germ breakouts from drinkware.
Would love to see glassware throughout plane, like Porter, but I realize that is asking a bit much for a global network carrier.
Sure, this could work, but I just don’t think it will and I don’t like drinking out of thick plastic…wherever I am.
Sustainability isn’t the primary reason, cutting cost is the driver here. Remember old amenity kits? Remember socks? Haven’t had socks in D1 in more than 6 months. Delta is selling more premium seats than anyone and inspite of that they are cutting corners, so imagine what they are trying to do in Main Cabin.
Unprecedented growth, tax payer bailouts, sky high ticket prices and worse service & worse product! #KeepDescending
If they want to use more reusable materials, they can start by bringing back plated meals in Premium Select
Yes please, glassware and silverware is already used, don’t understand the need to half ass with the plates.
These look so cheap.
They’re behind the times, should follow in Air Tahiti’s footsteps. On my flight from BOB to PPT with them a few weeks back they handed out juice or water in paper cups (already poured) and the one I got had lipstick stains on it…..recycling the disposable, and saving water by not even trying to cover it up/wash it. #gross 🙁
Yikes.
I believe this is about costs disguised as sustainability.
Delta can go back to what they did during the pandemic, provide everyone with their own can of beverage. Simply drink out of the can, no cup needed. This would drastically reduce the number of cups required for cold beverages.
This won’t happen because the mini 8oz cans cost more than the 12iz ones. And they squeeze 3 servings out of a 12oz can by adding tons of ice, hence the toddler cups.
And no one’s complaining about glassware being rewashed and reused, sounds like a thicker plastic cup is a net positive for the customer experience instead of a soft flappy cup
Raise your hand if you believe that 100% of the time Delta and it’s employees and subcontractors, and sub subcontractors will always board sterile cups………you really believe that?
I agree with Matthew here, they are merely shifting the ‘carbon footprint’ to a less visible source.
As he stated, airlines should rather invest in ‘carbon capture’ technologies then.
I’ve spent some time in the aviation ESG space, mostly on E and G. Your take on how SAF is made is misleading. Not all SAF is made from meat byproduct. Not all SAF is even made from food byproduct. There are myriad ways to make SAF, though some don’t reduce total carbon emissions as much as others (20%~80% reduction is the range from worst to best SAF, roughly).
Your plastic cup characterisation screams of resisting change. As other readers have pointed out, plastic cups are used already at many restaurants and catering already takes F cutlery and the like to be washed; why not a few hundred more cups? Would you scoff at the organisers of Wimbledon or various European and British stadiums for using almost the same cups (but of course pint sized) for sporting events? This is the direction things are headed and I trust if you get a bad cup, an FA will get you a new one (even if under protest).
Bring back glassware..It is recyclable, can be sterilized with high heat and better to drink out of…/.