In a bid to tackle the environmental crisis, the two Dubai airports — Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) are set to go single-use plastic free from 2020.
The airports are working closely with over 250 of their concession and hospitality partners including Mcdonald’s, Costa Coffee and Starbucks for this initiative — the initial phase of which will see plastic cutlery, drinking straws, take-away food packaging and polythene bags removed from cafés, restaurants and shops at DXB from January 1, 2020.
While Mcdonald’s will replace a total of 5,608,740 items with recyclable materials at the two airports, Costa Coffee will use renewable, plant-based cups and lids made of wood and paper fibre.
When asked to explain the challenges involved, Eugene Barry, executive vice president commercial at Dubai Airports says “Among the challenges faced, the biggest is sourcing alternatives for plastic bottles, one of the most frequently used and discarded pieces of single-use plastics.
“As we work to reduce and ultimately eliminate plastics from our airports, we are increasing our recycling facilities in the customer spaces and a new partnership that will allow us to properly dispose of thousands of tonnes of single-use plastic, each year.”
