How hotels can reduce plastic waste

For Sam Thompson, it was an unexpected turning point that changed his perspective.

At 23, the sales associate was on a work trip, parched from the flight, and on the verge of compromising his eco-conscious habits by reaching for a single-use plastic bottle in his hotel room.

That's when a guest services agent at Hotel SLO, a chic 78-room boutique in San Luis Obispo, California, completely surprised him.

After verifying his ID and processing his payment, the agent excitedly shared the hotel's dedication to sustainability with Thompson.

She introduced him to the chilled glass bottles of filtered water in his room's fridge. She also told him about the water refill stations located on each of the hotel’s four floors. Then, she warmly invited him to use the stations as often as he wanted – a gesture that both surprised and delighted him.

“I make it a point to avoid single-use plastics in my everyday life, but traveling often makes it challenging,” he explained. “Having filtered water available whenever I need it, multiple times a day, was definitely a bonus.”

Innovative ways to travel sustainably

Gradually, experiences like Thompson's are becoming increasingly common for travelers worldwide.

As awareness of environmental impact grows, travel companies are rethinking their longstanding reliance on single-use plastics in response to more eco-conscious consumers.

These shifts in policy have created new opportunities for travelers to support brands that align with their values and make a difference with their spending.

“Hotels are starting to realize that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for sustainability, and they must take a more comprehensive approach to make a real impact,” says Jessica Blotter, CEO and co-founder of Kind Traveler, a sustainable travel booking platform in Malibu, California.

“As consumers demand more from hotels, those establishments will need to meet the evolving needs of their guests,” she adds.

Consumers have the power to take sides in any debate, and this one is no different. The simplest way for travelers to influence the plastic issue is by supporting businesses that have reduced or are actively working to reduce their plastic usage.

Demand less plastic

It’s not just about spending wisely, according to Kelley Louise, founder and executive director of the Impact Travel Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit that promotes sustainable travel.

The top priority on her list: Reduce plastic consumption.

Customers have a powerful opportunity to drive change through their actions.

This means requesting a reusable water bottle instead of single-use plastic ones in your room and asking for a refill station. It involves rejecting small plastic toiletries and instead asking for items in reusable containers or none at all. It can even mean calling the front desk to replace plastic cups with glassware.

Louise recommends that guests make their requests known to both hotel staff and the general manager. For larger hotel chains, she suggests reaching out directly to customer relations. (Don’t forget to fill out those feedback surveys!)

“Keep it simple and clear: ‘I’d prefer an alternative to the plastic items provided as I’m working to reduce my single-use plastic impact,’” she advised. “Hotels will only know you’re dissatisfied with their plastic choices if you speak up.”

Another approach is to share valuable information in advance. Louise points to the efforts of Oceanic Global, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving ocean health through increased awareness.

Based in New York, the group has created The Oceanic Standard, a free set of guides designed to help businesses adopt sustainable practices that benefit both the environment and their operations.

One of these guides is tailored for hotels, offering strategies to eliminate single-use plastics and implement sustainable waste management. Louise recommends downloading the guide and leaving it with the property manager upon departure.

The plastics issue

Sustainability has become a key focus in the hotel industry over the past decade. Around 2012, a few pioneering hotels began to embrace eco-friendly practices while also aiming to reduce costs.

These early adopters introduced initiatives such as offering guests the option to reuse sheets and towels for multiple days, installing solar panels, and transitioning some of their energy usage to renewable sources.

While there are no concrete statistics on the industry's overall progress, there have certainly been several success stories along the way.

Recent studies have shown that LED bulbs use 75% less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, leading to significant savings for hotels that make the switch. Additionally, commercial water softeners have been proven to reduce water usage significantly, further lowering costs.

Until recently, one area that many hotels had overlooked was their use of plastics.

Regardless of perspective, plastic waste – especially from single-use plastics – has become a global environmental crisis.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, floating in the Pacific Ocean like a massive, Texas-sized waste pile, now contains over 87,000 tons of plastic, according to the latest estimates.

In the United States alone, over 30 million tons of plastic are discarded annually, with only 8 percent being recycled, according to the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Global risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft recently reported that the average American generates more than 230 pounds of plastic waste every year.

Experts affiliated with the United Nations Environment Program estimate that 1 million plastic water bottles are sold every minute worldwide, with most of these bottles ending up in the oceans, contributing to 8 million metric tons of new plastic pollution each year.

To make matters worse, scientific models suggest that it could take at least 450 years for plastic to decompose in the ocean, breaking down into its basic molecules.

Unless urgent action is taken, scientists warn that plastic pollution in the world's oceans will triple within the next decade.

Why should hotels be concerned about plastic?

The travel industry plays a significant role in this issue.

Single-use plastic bottles are more common than passengers at many airports and aboard most cruise ships. Hotels also contribute by overstocking plastic items like mini toiletry bottles, individually wrapped cups, key cards, and, of course, plastic straws.

Consider this: at many high-end resorts, guests receive four plastic water bottles upon check-in—two at check-in, two more at turn-down, and two more every time the housekeepers come in to clean.

Our society has long depended on plastic for convenience, says Louise from the Impact Travel Alliance. But she believes that travel experiences don’t need these plastic luxuries to be unforgettable.

“It often boils down to marketing and transparency, and how hotels choose to implement their practices,” she explained.

“Part of this process requires hotels to continuously explain to new guests what they’re doing and why. But it’s a worthwhile effort,” she added.

First, the plastic straws

Until recently, the travel industry hadn’t taken significant action against its reliance on single-use plastics. The first major step: banning plastic straws.

The momentum for this shift grew in 2018, when reports revealed that up to 8 billion straws were polluting global beaches. Straws became the easy target – plastics that hotel and restaurant managers could eliminate quickly. (Note: Some pushback came from people with disabilities who rely on straws, leading many places to now offer them on request.)

Over the past year, many major travel companies have intensified their efforts to reduce plastic waste and embrace more sustainable alternatives.

On January 22, Accor Hotels – home to brands like Ibis, Novotel, Fairmont, and Mondrian – announced plans to replace plastic toiletry bottles with wall-mounted dispensers or bulk-sized glass bottles by the end of the year. The company is also moving towards using alternative materials for items such as keycards, laundry bags, and cups.

Starting in January, Norwegian Cruise Line replaced its single-use plastics fleet-wide with paper cartons from JUST Goods Inc., a company founded by Jaden Smith, the actor and rapper, and son of Will Smith.

In August 2019, San Francisco International Airport banned single-use plastics, and stores there have switched from plastic bottles to reusable metal ones.

That same month, Marriott International launched an initiative to replace small toiletry bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel in guestroom showers with larger, pump-top bottles.

Marriott has already introduced larger bottles in about 1,000 hotels across North America, according to Denise Naguib, Vice President of Sustainability and Supplier Diversity. She anticipates the switch will be completed at most other hotels by December 2020.

When fully rolled out globally, Naguib says the expanded toiletry program will prevent approximately 500 million small bottles from ending up in landfills each year, representing a 30% reduction in plastic waste from current amenities.

“We need to help people understand that this lifestyle is impacting much more than just themselves,” Naguib said in an exclusive interview with Dinogo shortly after the August announcement. “The real question is not what we’re giving up, but how we can make changes to address the bigger picture and prevent it from getting worse.”

Smaller-scale efforts to replace plastic

Other hotels and hotel chains have seen success with smaller initiatives.

In Las Vegas, for example, managers at the luxurious Villas at The Mirage have partnered with Solus Sustainable Hydration to receive filtered water in reusable glass bottles delivered daily, milkman-style.

Meanwhile, Hotel SLO in Central California, which opened in October 2019, made a bold commitment by eliminating all single-use plastics, including those found in glass bottles and communal refill stations that made a significant impression on Thompson during his stay.

On the opposite coast, Miami’s 251-room Palms Hotel & Spa has removed all disposable plastics and introduced biodegradable cornstarch utensils for use by the pool.

Tanja Morariu, Director of Marketing, explained that these changes are part of a broader regional effort to reduce waste.

“The future for us is all about reusables,” Morariu said, highlighting the use of refillable dispensers for eco-friendly bathroom amenities like shampoo and soap. “We believe that minimizing waste is the key to creating a better future.”

Some hotels are even taking steps to eliminate plastic room keys. For example, The Ranch in Laguna Beach, California, the only National Geographic Lodge of the World in the state, uses bamboo key cards, removing 25,000 plastic cards from landfills and the ocean each year.

Sustaining change

Experts emphasize the importance of education.

The faster travelers become aware of the issues surrounding single-use plastics and push for change, the quicker progress can be made, explains Roland Geyer, Associate Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara.

“People want to consume everything, travel the world, and live long lives, but you can’t achieve all that without generating waste and leaving a significant environmental impact,” Geyer pointed out.

“It’s time we seriously reconsider our choices and think about how we can make this planet sustainable for the long haul,” he added.