Airport Experience® News - Food & Beverage Issue 2023

SUSTAINABILITY SNAPSHOT

GRAB GO GOES GREEN Concessionaires Are Reducing Single-Use Plastics, One Meal At A Time

BY SALLY KRAL

ost will remember the blacklash around plastic straws that took hold in the U.S. around 2018,

“Sustainable packaging has come a long way when it comes to being sturdy and easy to transport,” notes Nikki Gonzalez, vice president of operations for High Flying Foods , which works with brands like Eco-Products , World Centric , Green Paper Products and others to meet its sustainable packaging and serveware needs. Claude Guillaume, senior vice president of dining operations for Paradies Lagardère , points out that using compostable products is a big part of reducing a restaurant’s waste, along with things like recycling, ordering efficiencies and donating unused food to community organizations.

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Above: Paradies Lagardère’s parent company, Lagardère Travel Retail, is on target to reach its 2025 goal of having 100 percent of the 43 countries in its global organization successfully switching to responsible consumables (sustainable packaging from Eco Products pictured). Above Right: During the pandemic, demand for grab and go items skyrocketed (Vino Volo selection at Will RogersWorld Airport pictured), and while costs and supply chain issues have posed challenges, concessionaires remain committed to providing eco-friendly packaging over single-use plastics.

with many foodservice companies vowing to eliminate them and some states even passing legislation to ban their use entirely, including Colorado, Oregon, New York, and Washington, D.C. The push for more sustainable packaging since then has gone well past straws to include all types of serveware and especially packaging for grab-and-go items. Today there is eco-friendly packaging made from all types of sustainable materials, including seaweed, hemp, cornstarch, mushrooms and more.

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