Holiday Inn owner to ditch mini toiletries from 5,000 hotels
InterContinental Hotels Group is ditching miniature shampoo, conditioner and body-wash bottles across its 5,000plus sites worldwide to reduce plastic waste.
The owner of the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental chains will switch to bulk dispensers, refillable bottles and ceramic containers by the end of 2021.
Hotels accounting for a third of the InterContinental group, including some Holiday Inn Express sites in the Americas, Kimpton in London, the Six Senses resort spas and newer brands Voco, Even and Avid have successfully switched to bulk dispensers or refillable containers.
The company says it uses about 200m bathroom miniatures every year, equivalent to about 1m kg of plastic.
Though they are a popular souvenir, rising concern about plastic waste has prompted a phasing out of bathroom miniatures, which have already been scrapped at 1,500 Marriott hotels. Many budget chains, such as Premier Inn, have never provided mini toiletries. Marriott says the average hotel used more than 23,000 small bottles a year, but the ban has cut out the use of 10.4m plastic bottles, equivalent to more than 51,000kg of plastic annually.
Many countries are also cracking down on single-use plastics, with bans particularly widespread across Africa. This month Panama became the first Central American country to ban plastic bags.
Lawmakers in California are considering banning toiletries in bottles 340ml or under at hotels and other lodging establishments from 2023, with a fine of up to $2,000 (£1,650) for those that do not comply.
The EU has pledged to ban plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, cotton buds and balloon sticks. The move is part of a wider restriction on single-use products to ensure that 55% of all plastic is recycled by 2030.
A similar ban in England on the supply of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds will come into force in April.