Bonjour à L’Australie !
Today’s post is coming from my rather uncomfortable seat on board Etihad airways, 39000 feet above Adelaide. It is 4:40 in the morning and breakfast has just been served.
Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a travel blog. I’m here to inspire sustainable change and this post comes after some rather disturbing observations concerning sustainable flying.
Already I have said that I want to be living plastic free or more so, “plastic less” by July 2018 however these past days (I know, it’s too long!!!) getting from Paris to Sydney have been pretty much as plastic-full as possible. Airports are already one of my least favourite places on Earth and the fact that is almost impossible to navigate them without plastic is a bit sad. So here are a few of my observations during my flying adventure…
Today’s post is coming from my rather uncomfortable seat on board Etihad airways, 39000 feet above Adelaide. It is 4:40 in the morning and breakfast has just been served.
Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a travel blog. I’m here to inspire sustainable change and this post comes after some rather disturbing observations concerning sustainable flying.
Already I have said that I want to be living plastic free or more so, “plastic less” by July 2018 however these past days (I know, it’s too long!!!) getting from Paris to Sydney have been pretty much as plastic-full as possible. Airports are already one of my least favourite places on Earth and the fact that is almost impossible to navigate them without plastic is a bit sad. So here are a few of my observations during my flying adventure…
1) Water: First of all, you can’t bring water through security so it’s either tip it out or down it quickly. Neither is particularly practical and what makes it a lot harder is after security it can be quite hard to find a water fill station without resorting to toilets- of which I am not a fan. Otherwise you have to buy bottled water- which is my absolute worst nightmare and did have to take one on the way to Paris because we really couldn’t find anywhere else to fill up our bottles. If worst comes to worst, there is always water served on the plane however here we come to the next dilemma.
2) Plane drinks: So I have found that the flight staff come around every couple hours offering drinks in plastic cups which they collect up afterwards meaning each time they come around you get a new cup and you end up using around 6 cups per person for a flight. I personally kept my cups from each flight and asked for refills but this is not at all promoted by the cabin crew, airlines or by society in general. To me it seems so blindingly obvious I don’t understand why they collect the cups after each serving anyway- I guess it’s so people can stow their tow-trays but honestly, it isn’t that inconvenient! Moreover, I imagine that re-using the cups would be so much more practical for the airline as well because they don’t need nearly as much cups for the journey and are generating a lot less waste which is lighter and takes up less space. And as a little side note, all the drinks they served where from plastic bottles however I will say that at least they weren’t giving small bottles to each person but pouring from the larger bottles into the cups. Either way, it’s too much unnecessary plastic!
3) Plane food packaging: Ok so unfortunately I can’t really offer many solutions to this one because it is a slightly more difficult but just as harmful problem. Every single item on the menu was packaged in some form of plastic and I can confirm that almost none of it was recyclable. Nonetheless, I doubt that the airline recycles the small percentage that they can as it is all collected together and dumped in a bin. The main alternative to this is obviously washable plastic cutlery and plates however these have some disadvantages. Firstly they weigh a lot more than single-use plastic tubs and that means more fuel is needed for the plane. They also take up more space and can be broken more easily. Finally, to be re-used they need to be washed and that takes a lot of space, water, time and electricity which is not always abundant on planes. So I do excuse the airlines for this however just because we are offered these meals, it doesn’t mean we have to accept them. It is very easy to make your own sandwich or meal to bring onto the plane in re-usable Tupperware. If it serves as further reasoning, the plane meals are never very good anyway. However, if you are going to bring your own meal, pay attention to custom’s regulations and security allowances.
Voilà mes 3 observations des plastics dans des avions. Evidently, navigating an airport without using any single-use plastic is near impossible, near impossible, and so I hope that you will excuse me for a few days during which I did my best but still managed to use much more plastic than I would have liked.
However, if I can come back to one of my original posts which discusses a topic I find very important, I am not scorning myself for these little slips because I know that I did my best and that this is a rather unique situation that likely will not come around again in a while. I am not very experienced with flying and airports but I like to think that after this trip I have picked up a few tips and tricks to make my next adventure even more sustainable. Noting and acknowledging these small problems and solutions have renewed my determination to fulfil my new year’s resolution and I feel more excited than ever to really get started on this plastic free journey.
Well, the pilot has just made the announcement that will be arriving at Sydney in 45 minutes and starting to descend in 10. Whoa!!! I can’t believe I’m nearly home! Have a great end of the holidays and see you all soon!
Taylor
2) Plane drinks: So I have found that the flight staff come around every couple hours offering drinks in plastic cups which they collect up afterwards meaning each time they come around you get a new cup and you end up using around 6 cups per person for a flight. I personally kept my cups from each flight and asked for refills but this is not at all promoted by the cabin crew, airlines or by society in general. To me it seems so blindingly obvious I don’t understand why they collect the cups after each serving anyway- I guess it’s so people can stow their tow-trays but honestly, it isn’t that inconvenient! Moreover, I imagine that re-using the cups would be so much more practical for the airline as well because they don’t need nearly as much cups for the journey and are generating a lot less waste which is lighter and takes up less space. And as a little side note, all the drinks they served where from plastic bottles however I will say that at least they weren’t giving small bottles to each person but pouring from the larger bottles into the cups. Either way, it’s too much unnecessary plastic!
3) Plane food packaging: Ok so unfortunately I can’t really offer many solutions to this one because it is a slightly more difficult but just as harmful problem. Every single item on the menu was packaged in some form of plastic and I can confirm that almost none of it was recyclable. Nonetheless, I doubt that the airline recycles the small percentage that they can as it is all collected together and dumped in a bin. The main alternative to this is obviously washable plastic cutlery and plates however these have some disadvantages. Firstly they weigh a lot more than single-use plastic tubs and that means more fuel is needed for the plane. They also take up more space and can be broken more easily. Finally, to be re-used they need to be washed and that takes a lot of space, water, time and electricity which is not always abundant on planes. So I do excuse the airlines for this however just because we are offered these meals, it doesn’t mean we have to accept them. It is very easy to make your own sandwich or meal to bring onto the plane in re-usable Tupperware. If it serves as further reasoning, the plane meals are never very good anyway. However, if you are going to bring your own meal, pay attention to custom’s regulations and security allowances.
Voilà mes 3 observations des plastics dans des avions. Evidently, navigating an airport without using any single-use plastic is near impossible, near impossible, and so I hope that you will excuse me for a few days during which I did my best but still managed to use much more plastic than I would have liked.
However, if I can come back to one of my original posts which discusses a topic I find very important, I am not scorning myself for these little slips because I know that I did my best and that this is a rather unique situation that likely will not come around again in a while. I am not very experienced with flying and airports but I like to think that after this trip I have picked up a few tips and tricks to make my next adventure even more sustainable. Noting and acknowledging these small problems and solutions have renewed my determination to fulfil my new year’s resolution and I feel more excited than ever to really get started on this plastic free journey.
Well, the pilot has just made the announcement that will be arriving at Sydney in 45 minutes and starting to descend in 10. Whoa!!! I can’t believe I’m nearly home! Have a great end of the holidays and see you all soon!
Taylor