Some hotels not ready to get rid of mini bottles

For travelers who love those miniature shampoo bottles ( either to use during the trip or to furtively swipe for later), the recent announcement by one of the nation’s largest hotel chains that it would soon eliminate them was likely a disappointment.

But several Pittsburgh- area hotels, inns and bed- and- breakfast establishments remain unable or unwilling to switch to bulk shampoo and conditioner dispensers in place of mini- bottles — citing costs, guest preferences and logistical barriers arising from the facilities themselves.

On July 30, InterContinental Hotels Group — which owns more than 5,600 hotels internationally, including the Holiday Inn chain — announced it would replace all bathroom mini bottles with bulk dispensers by 2021. The conglomerate’s customers use an average of 200 million bathroom miniatures each year.

IHG’s decision follows other environmentally conscious policies adopted by much of the hotel industry in recent years, such as a phase- out of plastic straws.

While small amenity bottles can be great for travelers who can’t get larger containers through airport security, many are constructed from non- reusable plastic, which can have devastating effects on the environment. In addition to their deadly impact on ocean wildlife, a recent report found the production of plastics has accelerated climate change.

The reduction in plastic from scrapping plastic amenity bottles can be significant. Hotel chain Marriott’s decision last year to phase them out at 450 of its hotels will likely eliminate over 100,000 pounds of plastic annually, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The most common alternatives to these small plastic bottles are reusable dispensers, which can deliver a handful of pear- scented soap directly into the hand of a showering guest at the flick of a toggle.

Among Pittsburgh hotels — including some that have embraced a plethora of other measures to reduce waste and emissions, such as washing towels less frequently and installing energyefficient lights — scrapping mini shampoo bottles seems to be far from a top priority.

Ed Menzer, owner of the The Parador Inn, a nineroom, $ 170- per- night bedandbreakfast on the North Shore, said he has reduced his trash to one can per week by stepping up his composting and recycling efforts, in addition to reducing his carbon footprint by replacing dozens of windows.

Yet he remains hesitant to drill into the walls of his late 19th- century, Victorianstyle mansion in order to install shampoo dispensers, and the showers do not contain ledges that could hold a refillable plastic container.

“It’s on my list,” Mr. Menzer said. “It’s just not on the top of my list.”

Although recycling mini shampoo bottles could help alleviate some environmental concerns emanating from their use, smaller hotels often do not have the resources to enroll in recycling programs.

“For a small hotel like us, it is cost- prohibitive,” said Adam Frye, operations manager at Mansions on Fifth, a 22- room hotel in Shadyside.

Even for chains and large independent hotels, the financial benefit of switching to large dispensers is not clear- cut, in part because of the continuing appeal of these small bottles to many guests.

Fairmont Pittsburgh, a 185- room downtown hotel, has a contract with Le Labo, a high- end brand from France, to provide roughly 10,000 bottles of shampoo, body lotion and shower gel to the hotel each year — each bottle holding between 1.4 and 3 ounces.

Andrea Stehle, Fairmont’s digital marketing and communications manager, said the bottles are constructed from sustainable materials and the hotel donates lightly used bottles to a low- income school district in New York, helping to reduce waste.

“Our hope is that people recycle them,” she said. “The unfortunate thing is that people take them from the room and throw them away.”

InterContinental Hotels Group’s announcement last week that it was scrapping mini- bottles included no mention of financial motivations for the decision, but rather emphasized the need to show leadership on reducing waste.

Not all Pittsburgh- area hotels give out miniature bottles. Some that offer soap and shampoo in dispensers or large reusable bottles, such as the Morning Glory Inn on the South Side, have done so for years.

Until now, though, such practices have been mostly a matter of industry choice. But that could change.

A bill making its way through the California legislature seeks to prohibit hotels from using miniature personal care bottles after 2022, and the European Parliament approved a bill last month banning single- use plastic consumer items beginning in 2021.

For those visiting Pennsylvania, though, those mini bottles seem to be safe — for now.