Air New Zealand extends sustainability pledge to banish 55m plastic items and newspapers from network

Half full: Air New Zealand has increased its pledge to offload plastics, though carbon footprint grows. Photo / Supplied

Air New Zealand has set itself the goal of reducing its single-use plastic by 55 million items in 2019.

The announcement which coincides with "Plastic Free July" doubles last year's reduction goal of 25 million items.

The airline first made clear its plastic-free aspirations in October last year, identifying 14 products that would be scrapped from their network such as plastic cups and cheese plates.

Over the next month Air New Zealand will remove individual plastic water bottles, accounting for more than 460000 items that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Environmentally-friendly alternatives are expected to replace these bottles by the end of the year.

In the meantime, eco-conscious passengers are being praised for helping cut down on plastic use by bringing their own bottles with them.

"It's great to see more and more customers are bringing their reusable drink bottles and keep cups on board, and we encourage people to do this – our cabin crew team is happy to fill these," said Air New Zealand's acting head of sustainability, Anna Palairet.

"The lack of composting infrastructure available in New Zealand is a challenge so we have been focused on reducing the amount of single-use plastic products we purchase in the first place," said Palairet.

Hey cool, @FlyAirNZ, so does this mean you will be cancelling all of your flights in favour of Skype meetings? That would be a commitment to sustainability.
Or is this about something else? pic.twitter.com/yINpuglx6H

— MarkMyWords (@MarkSReynolds) July 2, 2019

The company's tough stance on recycling and non-compostable packaging has been praised.

However, some have questioned whether controversial decisions such as removing newspapers from Koru lounges was due to new a "commitment to sustainability" or cost cutting Greenwashing.

Last week Air New Zealand stopped providing newspapers in airport lounges.

Air New Zealand is still one of the country's largest users of fossil fuels: Low-fuel Boeing Dreamliner. Photo / Supplied

The net effects of Air New Zealand's tough stance on single-use plastic are yet to be seen.

The weight reduction of offloading plastic water bottles is equivalent to 300000kg in carbon savings on jet fuel.

Yet this is still a tiny fraction of the carrier's annual emissions.

The airline remains the country's biggest contributor to fossil fuel use, with a carbon footprint that has grown by 700,000 tonnes since 2011.