Dubai Airport has partnered with Costa, Pret and Giraffe to herald new era of plastic-free air travel.
Plastic cutlery, drinking straws, take-away food packaging and polythene bags will start to disappear from cafés, restaurants and shops by January 1st 2020.
With 90 million passengers passing through Dubai’s two airports – DXB and DWC –the plastic-free initiative presents a huge logistical challenge to the management team and to every business in their supply chain.
Already 95 per cent of Dubai Airports’ commercial partners have signed the pledge to stop using disposable plastic in their outlets.
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Costa Coffee has committed to replacing its plastic-lined cups with a 100 per cent renewable, plant-based “smart” cup. This will be followed later next year by the introduction of a coffee cup lid made entirely from wood and paper fibre instead of single-use plastic.
Pret a Manger, McDonalds and Giraffe are also on board, alongside around 290 other retail, and have started the process of eliminating consumer-facing plastic items from their concessions and replacing them with more sustainable alternatives in just 6 months.
New research commissioned by Dubai Airports highlights widespread public support for recycling initiatives.
In Britain, 49 per cent of air travellers say they carry a reusable water bottle, 31 per cent say they will choose to eat in a restaurant to avoid plastic packaging and 20 per cent say they don’t buy items at the airport containing non-recyclable materials.
But it is clear that passengers feel airports could be doing more on the issue with 86 per cent saying that they need to be more vocal about what they are doing to recycle waste.