I'm in favor of protecting the environment. I think global warming is potentially the most catastrophic crisis facing the world today. I think this is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard, if the goal is in fact to alleviate global warming. It's hard to beat paper straws, but they sure do appear to be trying.

1) It won't do anything to help, and
2) (in my opinion, more importantly) it gives ammo to the opposition.

Of course they do. Virtually all paper cups that are used for hot liquids require a PFAS lining that is sprayed on the inside of the cup during manufacture. Without it, they will leak.

Not correct. Plastic and paper both have a finite ability to be recycled. New material has to be added on every cycle. That said, the fibers in paper break down much more quickly than the polymers used in most plastic cups so that much more new material (i.e. freshly chopped down trees) has to be added to each cycle for paper cups.

Why? The CO2 needed to produce paper cups is higher than plastic and once in the land fill, the paper cups release CO2 as they decompose. The plastic cups do not. The lowest carbon footprint for single use packaging if you don't have WTE incineration, is plastic into a landfill.

Of course not. In the recycling process most of the sorting and cleaning is done at industrial scale. Having humans doing the sorting would never be economical for either paper or plastic recycling. What is needed to make recycling profitable (other than the price of pulp or oil) is a large steady supply of material with a relatively finite variety of materials in waste stream. You can get this from stadiums, college cafeterias, airplanes, etc.

Can't wait for the canned wine in a paper cup on my flights in 2024... "Stay Classy Delta"... :cool::td:

Who knew plastic cups were classier than paper? The most environmentally friendly option is obviously to sit in first class/Delta One and only accept drinks in woke glass. That's a good enough excuse for me.

Next will be BYOC, Bring Your Own Cup.

Of course - but it wouldn't be 2023 if you weren't suffering so that you could pretend you're helping the environment.

Same reason your hand has to burn with every coffee cup you drink as opposed to the days when Styrofoam kept your drink warm and your hand cool.

Unlike plastic cups?

Yuck... another brilliant idea brought to you from the marketing department. Just like those horrible paper straws that turn into a soggy mess half way through your drink, I don't see anything good about the paper cups. Unless you have a super thick heavy duty spray of plastic on the inside, its going to make your beverage gross. And once you put the plastic liner in the paper cup, it becomes non-recyclable and a mess in a landfill.

Can't wait to have a soda or mixed drink in a plastic cup that gets soggy within minutes.

1) Paper cups always add an undesired flavor to a drink.

2) The change has nothing to do with global warming. a) Paper cups are likely cheaper than plastic cups. b) The switch enables virtue-signaling.

A very succinct description of what Delta has become as a company/airline.

I'm sure Ed enjoys the instagram likes.

This reminds me of LAX no longer selling bottled water, but they'll happily sell you a giant very heavy glass bottle of Evian.

If you're selling property in Prudhoe Bay, I want to know if it comes with subsurface mineral rights! :-p

Yeah, and I gave up this game sometime around when the climate protests were disrupting London and Washington, DC in 2019. Been driving an old Cadillac ever since.

I wonder if someone is going to tell Ed that the eco virtue signalling is not going to work because his customers are not dumb as he is.

I just hope they don’t touch the bottled water in F. The Boxed water AS serves in F has a vile taste that makes it nearly undrinkable.