At a Glance

Qantas Airlines typically produces about "80 fully-laden Boeing 747 jumbos" of waste per year on its Quantas and Jetstar flights.Wednesday's flight from Sydney to Adelaide offered passengers biodegradable paper cups and cutlery made from crop starch.Packaging for food items on the flight was made from sugar cane.

As part of an effort to eliminate 100 million plastic items from its flights by next year, Australia's Qantas Airlines launched the world's first-ever "zero-waste" flight on Wednesday.

The flight from Sydney to Adelaide marked a "" for aviation, Andrew David, CEO of Qantas' domestic division, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The airline typically produces about "" of waste per year on its Qantas and Jetstar flights, according to a press release.

“Our cabin crews see this waste every day and they want it eliminated and increasingly our shareholders are demanding we do more to address our environmental footprint,” David told the Morning Herald.

Before the switch to zero-waste, the flight from Sydney to Adelaide produced nearly per flight and 150 tons of waste per year, according to the release.

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On Wednesday's flight, passengers were offered biodegradable cutlery made from crop starch, packaging made from sugar cane and paper cups.

“These products will be turned into compost and used in gardens and farms across the country. Any plastic items such as bottles or any paper items will be collected and recycled,” David noted, adding that the cost for the materials will not be passed on to passengers.

"We are prepared to make this investment and over the long term it will reduce our costs," he said.

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The airline says it is also committed to replacing 45 million plastic cups, 30 million cutlery sets, 21 million coffee cups and 4 million headrest covers with sustainable alternatives.

The effort comes amid a growing global effort by countries and corporations to ban single-use plastics, including the European Union's cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers by 2021.