Whenever we travel, we try to support our friends who are making sustainability a priority! Alaska Airlines became the first national airline to give up plastic water bottles last year when they announced they were switching to Boxed Water™ cartons for their inflight service.
Since the announcement, we’ve been flooded with social media posts from passengers who are delighted by the idea of a cleaner, less polluted planet. Here are three things to know about the partnership.
1. We’re removing 1.8 million pounds of single-use plastics
Alaska Air and Boxed Water share the belief that small changes have a lasting impact on our planet. Boxed Water was the first national company to offer a sustainable solution to single-use bottles, and Alaska Air has been a sustainability pioneer in the airline industry.
In 2018, Alaska Airlines was the first U.S. airline to eliminate plastic straws and stir sticks from flights and lounges. Their “Green Team” is specifically dedicated to improving the environment through in-flight recycling and trash sorting programs that help reduce the amount of waste per guest that ends up in landfills. They strategically update their fleet in hopes of achieving an ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Their latest change? Replacing plastic bottles in their in-flight water service with Boxed Water cartons and paper cups, which will remove 1.8 million pounds of single-use plastics from aircrafts over the next year. More specifically, the switch will effectively remove 22 million plastic cups and 32 million plastic bottles per year from Alaska flights. That’s the equivalent of eighteen 737 Boeing aircrafts.
“We have a great recycling program, but we know single-use plastics have a big impact on the ecosystem and inevitably some will end up in a landfill or an ocean,” said Todd Traynor-Corey, managing director of guest products. “In order to reduce our waste footprint – and ultimately our carbon footprint – we need to actually eliminate single-use plastic. And the biggest offender is plastic water bottles.”
2. Refillable is (Still) Best
“People should be using refillable bottles.” It’s a statement we hear often — and we completely agree!
Packing a reusable bottle when you're traveling is always BEST, but plant-based cartons are the BETTER alternative to single use plastic bottles and aluminum cans when you forget your reusable bottle at home. Alaska Air encourages passengers to remember their refillable water bottle by offering to plant a tree every time someone posts a photo with their reusable bottle with #FillBeforeYouFly on social media.
If you forget your refillable, snag one of our cartons at the airport or on a flight and know that you can refill it several times before recycling! We use a plant-based, resealable cap to keep our water safe and make it easier to bring with you on-the-go. Our box is 92 percent renewable - the highest in the industry.
“When researching alternatives to plastic water bottles, the Green Team considered a variety of factors on overall environmental impact such as water sourcing, packaging materials, recyclability, and shipping distance,” said Robbie Neff, Green Team member and pricing team lead at Alaska. “Boxed Water scored better than the other options of glass bottles and aluminum cans.”
3. You Post, We Plant Trees
Don’t let your next trip end without having us plant a tree in your honor! Afterall, forests offset around 16 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Post a photo with a Boxed Water carton and #BetterPlanet and we’ll plant two trees in your honor! Thanks to social media and our loyal fans, we’ve already planted over 1.2 million trees with the NFF.
Using a refillable bottle? Posts a photo with your reusable bottle and #FillBeforeYouFly, and Alaska Air will plant a tree in partnership with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. Two easy ways to participate. Either way, both of our companies are planting trees to celebrate travelers who are ditching single-use plastic bottles!