The Virgin flight on bio fuels from Heathrow to Schipol (Amsterdam) last week was an encouraging step forward in cleaner (greener) air travel.

Another area where airlines should be looking for reducing consumption is the beverage cart in the cabin.

On a Continental flight this morning to New Orleans via New York I asked for a coffee.  I received:

• Coffee in a Styrofoam cup
• Plastic cup in which the Styrofoam cup was in
• A plastic stir stick (for a black coffee)
• Napkin, placed under the coffee
• Small pack of pretzels
• Napkin, placed under the pretzels

I wonder how much extra waste is generated on flights around the world per day? 

If I need two cups and two separate napkins then they should either be ashamed of the cleanliness of the tray that I'm using or they think that I can't handle a cup of coffee on my own.

I realize that using cleaner fuels is a bigger goal and will take a lot of pollution out of the air...but... why not clean up in the cabin?  Reducing the amount of waste generated per person would be a huge savings to both the environment and the the airlines bottom line.

So now I've learnt my lesson.  On my connecting flight from New York to New Orleans I'm going to get 1 coffee in 1 cup... and 4 napkins because those pretzels are hard to handle...