Alaska Airlines: Now serving Boxed Water – in cardboard cups

Starting today (4 November 2021) in what may well be a little bit of greenwashing to coincide with the 2021 Glasgow climate meeting, Alaska Airlines announces one of those things that makes you say: ‘Why weren’t we doing this years ago?’

Instead of serving water from the classic clear plastic bottle, they have shifted to the old fashioned ‘milk’ carton, but filled with water. It’s buying the water in boxes from a company called Boxed Water™ – they let them trade mark that.

The packaging is 92% plant-based, fully recyclable, and is sealed with a plant-based cap. Alaska will also replace plastic cups with recyclable paper cups to put that drinking water in. If you think this is a little thing, then swallow this:

‘Inflight water service is the most significant contributor of onboard plastic waste. The switch to more sustainable solutions will effectively remove 22 million plastic cups and 32 million plastic bottles per year from Alaska flights.’

Alaska Airlines Newsroom

Of course, those 22 million cups will now be cardboard, as will the 32 million bottles, but hey, they’re fully recyclable.

However, Alaska is to be commended for its environmental policies which include a strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, with a target to be the most fuel-efficient U.S. airline by 2025. That will all help their commercial bottom line as well.

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I love digital, except when my phone dies, which happened to me on the last night of my recent visit to New Zealand

I’m no expert on matters environmental, but there are plenty who are who can pull the release apart, but on the surface, this looks like a great environmentally friendly idea. That being the case, come on Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin, Rex and Alliance, and follow this trend.