Eurostar is celebrating its 25th birthday today by committing to a more sustainable direction of travel with its first ever plastics-free train.
The high-speed train service connecting the UK with the rest of Europe will be plastics-free on today’s London to Paris route. That means no single-use plastics and onboard catering featuring ‘new wooden cutlery, recyclable cans of water, glass wine bottles, alternative paper-based coffee cups and environmentally friendly packaging for food served to customers’. Every Eurostar journey has already been found to emit 90% ‘less greenhouse gas emissions than the equivalent flight’, in a study based on DEFRA methodology. This latest move by the company will further strengthen the sustainability credentials of train travel.
“Over the last twenty five years, we have led the way in cross-Channel high speed rail, revolutionising the links between the UK and mainland Europe. We have always had a strong sense of responsibility for the environment but as the demand for sustainable travel becomes increasingly critical, we believe we can raise the bar. With our environmental ambitions and our tree planting programme we are providing an attractive, eco-friendly alternative to the airlines,” said Mike Cooper, CEO, Eurostar.
From January 2020 Eurostar has also promised to plant a tree for all the train services it operates.
