Air France Wants to Eliminate 210 Million Single-Use Plastic Items by the End of 2019

Air France says it will eliminate single-use plastic items from its flights, hopping on the green bandwagon with other airlines and hotel brands that have enacted their own environmentally-friendly practices in recent months.

Air France says it has been making strides to be a greener airline since 2015, when it stopped supplying plastic drinking straws on board — according to a press release. Now, as a part of a new initiative (named #AFTakesCare) to further reduce its carbon footprint, Air France replaced a majority of its single-use plastic items with products made from bio-based materials on a flight from Paris to Detroit on June 5.

The airline plans on continuing to expand this program by phasing out 1,300 tons of single-use plastic. By the end of 2019, the carrier says that will add up to the elimination 210 million single-use plastic items. That includes replacing of 100 million plastic cups, 85 million plastic cutlery items and 25 million plastic stirring sticks. Air France had also replaced its plate and cutlery sets used for the second meal service on long-haul flights with eco-friendly "BON APPETIT" bags.

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It also just so happens that very Paris-to-Detroit flight is operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — which required 20% less fuel consumption than older aircraft and a lesser noise footprint, the airline claims in its statement. Air France plans on training pilots to "optimize" the flight path aboard the Dreamliner to adapt to weather conditions and the weight of the aircraft. The new, "eco-piloting" practices are said to reduce fuel consumption by approximately 2.7 liters per passenger per 100 km (62.1 miles).

Air France is just one of many aviation-industry giants that have eliminated single-use plastic items. Just last year, American Airlines, started to transition from plastic to bamboo straws and coffee stirrers on its aircraft around the same time that Delta also ditched plastic straws and other single-use plastics from its flights and Sky Club.

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