American Airlines make eco-friendly bid, set to replace plastic straws with bamboo

Climate change is one of the major concerns across the globe and that also spans aviation sector. For that matter, various attempts are being made to replace unsustainable practices with those of environment-friendly ones.
 
A recent instance of an airline looking to make a change for the better is that of American Airlines, which is all set to go eco-friendly by putting an end to the practice of using plastic straws. The world's biggest airline told AP on Tuesday that it will stop using plastic straws and drink stirs and replace them with biodegradable alternatives.

The American Airlines also informed that the measure will be commencing this month itself in its airport lounges and that it will begin moving to what it called eco-friendly flatware by serving drinks with straw and wood stir sticks in air too.

“Eliminating more than 71,000 pounds of plastic a year, it will replace plastic stir sticks with ones made from bamboo in November on board planes,” American added.

However, this is not for  the first time that any Airline has taken such measures. Earlier in May, the fifth-largest US carrier, Alaska Airlines had declared to eliminate plastic straws and use "sustainable, marine-friendly alternatives instead, starting this summer.

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On the other side, according to representatives of the carriers, some of the larger US airlines continue to use plastic straws including Delta, United and Southwest.

Being a non-biodegradable material plastic straws are incapable of being chemically degraded, are often not recycled and wind up as trash in landfills and oceans.

Besides, recently, some of the major food companies including Starbucks have announced a ban on plastic straws and polystyrene foam cups from its stores by 2020.