Southwest Airlines Introduces Bamboo Cups, Wooden Stir Sticks to Reduce Plastic Waste

Southwest Airlines has rolled out bamboo cups and wooden stir sticks as part of its commitment to eliminate single-use plastics from inflight services by 2030. Announced on October 28, 2024, the initiative targets two major sources of single-use plastics in Southwest’s inflight service: cold beverage cups and stir sticks.

After assessing the environmental impact of its service items, Southwest devised a replacement plan in 2024, including extensive testing with customers and staff. The new bamboo-based cups are made from 93% non-plastic materials, blending 75% bamboo with 25% paper and featuring a polyethylene (PE) lining. Bamboo is recognized as a “rapidly renewable material” by the U.S. Green Building Council. The stir sticks, made from FSC5-certified birch wood, are 100% biodegradable. Together, these changes are expected to reduce single-use plastics by more than 1.5 million pounds annually.

“We anticipate that these new bamboo cups and wood stir sticks will help us surpass our goal to cut single-use plastics by 50% by weight by 2025,” said Helen Giles, Managing Director of Environmental Sustainability at Southwest. “We’re working with our suppliers to fully eliminate, where feasible, single-use plastics in our inflight service by 2030.”

This initiative is part of Southwest’s larger sustainability campaign, Nonstop to Net Zero, which aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Additionally, Southwest will introduce a “select-a-snack” option on flights to and from Hawaii, expected to cut 18,000 pounds of single-use plastic packaging and reduce food waste.

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