United joins other airlines in ditching plastic straws

Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

A United Airlines airplane takes off at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California. 

United Airlines is the latest airline to ditch plastic straws and cocktail picks, amid concerns over pollution and wildlife threats caused by disposable plastics.

Starting in early November, the third-largest U.S. carrier, which operates 4,600 flights a day and carried 148 million passengers last year, will replace disposable plastic drink stirs that double as straws and picks with bamboo versions, in all of its cabins.

American Airlines, the world’s largest airline, took a similar step in July and said it would also offer plastic alternatives to flatware and stir sticks in its lounges. In May, Alaska Airlines announced it would ditch plastic stirs for ones made with white birch and start using citrus picks made of bamboo.

Airlines’ shift to other materials for on-board and lounge mirrors that of the restaurant and food and beverage industries where several companies are pledging to use alternatives to single-use plastic straws or plastic packaging. Starbucks, for example, in July said it would eliminate plastic straws from its cafes by 2020. A ban on plastic straws, utensils and cocktail picks went into effect in Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered, that month.

United declined to say whether the bamboo picks and stirs would be more expensive than the plastic versions but said they are slightly heavier.