News and Insights
Hospitality Steps Up to Stop Plastic in July
July 25, 2024
There may have once been “a great future in plastics,” as Mr. McGuire told Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate, but the present seems perilous for much of the planet.
According to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, plastic accounts for 80 percent of all marine pollution. Eight to 10 million metric tons finds its way into ocean waters each year. Currently, there are 50 to 75 trillion – that’s with a “t” – pieces of plastic and microplastics in the ocean, and by 2050 plastic will likely outweigh all the fish in the sea.
The outlook on dry land is similarly alarming. In Our Planet is Choking on Plastic, the United Nations Environment Program notes that in the early 2000s the amount of plastic waste rose more in a decade than over the previous 40 years. Today, some 400 million tons of plastic waste is produced annually, a rate forecast to accelerate to 1.1 billion tons by 2050. More than one-third of plastics is used in packaging, and approximately 85 percent will end up in landfills or as unregulated waste.
This month marks Plastic Free July, a global initiative that challenges and aids people in reducing single-use plastics. With roots going back more than a decade, last year Plastic Free July drew 89 million participants from 190+ countries and reduced non-recoverable waste by nearly 2 billion pounds, recyclable waste by over 1.5 billion pounds, and plastic consumption by over 500 million pounds.
Located near where the Chesapeake meets the Atlantic, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach has embraced Plastic Free July since 2018. This month the aquarium is engaging the community to join, with challenges such as replacing single-use plastic products with reusable/recyclable alternatives and celebrating with bubbles instead of balloons, and prizes including a private, behind-the-scenes facility tour. The aquarium is also partnering with Act Like a Sponge, a global SpongeBob initiative aimed at curbing plastic waste, educating consumers, and inspiring ocean sustainability. Guests are invited to participate in SpongeBob-themed experiences through Nickelodeon, with a partnership with the Krusty Krew sharing an ocean-loving mission to tackle marine plastic pollution.
Whatever the month, hospitality is in on the game. Clean the World, an Orlando-based nonprofit whose Global Hospitality Recycling Program counts over 8,300 hospitality partners, has diverted more than 27 million pounds of waste from landfills since 2009, including 9.1 million pounds of plastic amenity bottles.
The Mediterranean island nation of Malta, which drew more than 3 million tourists in 2023, is aiming to be single-use-plastic free by 2030 via a nationwide strategy to phase out plastic in favor of paper and textile packaging. Friends of the Earth Malta, a local NGO, encourages Maltese to make a Plastic Free Pledge for a lasting impact on the environment by reducing plastic waste from their day to day lives.
Such action takes effort and creativity. a&o Hostels is on course to become the first net-zero (carbon-neutral) chain of hostels on the Continent by 2025. Under leadership of CEO Oliver Winter, a&o has approached the mission from many angles, from eliminating tropical fruits that need to travel far to reach dining outlets of individual properties, to tapping suppliers that utilize multi-use instead of disposable packaging.
Meanwhile, Sal Salis eco-luxury camp from Journey Beyond has committed to protecting the natural beauty of Ningaloo Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the north west coastal region of Western Australia, with everything from above-ground construction to protect local flora, fauna, and sand hills, to near-100% solar generated power, nature loos, and chemical-free linen.
Key to its commitment, the camp is seeking acceptable alternatives to plastic drinking bottles that litter the shores of Australia and asking guests to participate – though, it’s worth noting that a study by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), found that, thanks to local initiatives, plastic rubbish on the country’s beaches declined by 29 percent between 2013 and 2019.
Here are other efforts to reduce plastic waste and more from clients of FINN Partners Travel Team:
A leader in responsible tourism, Iberostar Hotels & Resorts has introduced Wave of Change to underscore its commitment to ocean conservation and environmental stewardship, with an aim to become waste-free by 2025 and carbon neutral by 2030. The family-owned hotelier with more than 100 properties on three continents has introduced an Honest Food Initiative that taps responsibly sourced products for homemade recipes. Result? 90% of ingredients at Spanish properties are responsibly sourced, and 78% of fish come from sustainable sources with a goal to reach 100% by next year.
As if eliminating single-use plastics at its four luxury properties along the coasts of Mauritius wasn’t enough, Sunlife has also ID-ed another 48 plastic items within operations and replaced all but 4 with sustainable alternatives. Properties offer experiences to immerse guests in responsible travel, from zero-carbon water activities to endemic tree adoption to climate smart agriculture. And Sunlife’s innovative coral farming program at its terrestrial nursery employs micro-fragmenting to encourage rapid growth of new coral, with healing up to 40 times faster than naturally on a reef. Pursued with the Mauritius Research Council and University of Mauritius, the program has planted more than 2,000 coral fragments.
Seabourn, the leader in ultra-luxury voyages and expedition travel, is taking a piece-by-piece approach to cutting the equivalent of more than 1 million plastic water bottles per year, with crew members of the line’s oceangoing and expedition vessels separating waste types onboard to a dedicated Recycling Center to eliminate single-use plastics. The effort has x’ed-out plastic cups and straws, as well as balloons and plastic bags at onboard shops, switched out toiletry bottles for larger reusable containers, and reduced single-use plastic garbage can liners by two-thirds.
Luxury resorts in Maldives such as Baros Maldives and Milaidhoo Maldives have implemented eco-friendly practices to lighten their environmental impact. The former is replacing plastic straws with paper straws, banning plastic bags, and using glass bottles for water and refreshments that can be reused for multiple fillings; the latter is reducing single-use plastics, implementing energy-efficient technologies, ensuring all waste is managed responsibly, and enhancing dining with locally sourced and sustainable ingredients.
Finally, Virginia Beach and Destin-Fort Walton Beach in Florida, have both implemented beach toy recycling programs to minimize plastic waste and give new life to unwanted toys. Each has outdoor boxes and collector bins stationed at various locations along main public beaches for kids and their parents to discard or dispose of shovels, pails, rakes, sandcastle molds and more that might otherwise end up as trash or in the sea.
