Accor has committed to join the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to remove all single-use plastic items in guest experience from its hotels by the end of 2022.
In addition to Accor's previous commitments to eliminate all plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds, the new commitment includes:
- The removal of individual plastic toiletry amenities and cups by the end of 2020.
- The elimination of all remaining single-use plastic items in guestrooms, meeting areas, restaurants and all leisure activities areas (spas, fitness centres, etc.) by the end of 2022.
Single-use plastics are defined as disposable items that are used only once and then discarded. Examples include plastic straws, cotton buds, coffee stirrers, plastic cups, plastic bags for laundry or extra pillows, plastic water bottles, all plastic packaging (for food, welcome products, etc), plastic take-away dishes and tableware, plastic gifts and welcome products (toiletries, slippers, pencils, etc), plastic keycards. Relevant alternatives to plastic will be proposed for each specific item, considering Life Cycle Assessments to ensure better environmental performance for the solution proposed to our hotels.
With more than 200 million single-use plastic items used every year in all areas, hotels are already reducing their impact significantly, according to Accor. Several have deployed effective solutions by choosing more sustainable alternatives. For instance, 94% of Accor’s hotels have eliminated the use of straws, cotton buds and stirrers. The remaining 6% (mostly in China) will do it by end of March 2020
89% of ibis’ hotels are using dispensers for amenities such as shampoos. This means 2087 ibis family hotels have already dropped single-use plastic for this equipment. Accor ibis family hotels in Latin America will follow the same initiative this year.
Fairmont has used new construction and renovation standards in another example of one of the brands’ efforts. Its hotels incorporate water filtration taps in guest rooms to eliminate bottled water altogether.
Another Accor brand, “Greet” was created to answer guests’ needs, so it is in the brand’s DNA to be plastic-free. There is zero disposable plastic at breakfast and reusable dishes are utilized for butter and jam. In addition, there is zero disposable plastic in rooms and other parts of the hotels. Accor plans to open 10 more Greet hotels in Europe this year.
In addition, several Accor hotels within the group’s portfolio of brands – including Novotel Yangon Max, Myanmar, Sofitel Bogota, many hotels in Bali & Lombok, Indonesia, Ibis Styles São Paulo Anhem – have already taken steps individually to be plastic-free and are advancing towards a 100% single-use plastic-free objective.
One of Accor’s main purposes besides finding alternatives to plastic and reducing environmental impacts is to positively change common mindsets globally by adopting the 3R logic: reduce, re-use and recycle. The group’s headquarters will lead the best practices and hotels will enhance their local initiatives and solutions to hotels guests.
“Plastic pollution is one of the major environmental challenges of our time, and tourism has an important role to play in contributing to the solution,” said UN Environment Programme Economy Division Director, Ligia Noronha. “Through the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, tourism companies and destinations are supported to innovate, eliminate, innovate and circulate the way they use plastics, to advance circularity in our economies and reduce plastics pollution globally.”
“Our efforts do not stop here. We are an innovative group by nature and we continuously search for more areas where we can reduce our impact on the global environment while helping our local communities in their efforts to create a healthier, more sustainable future,” said Sébastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO of Accor.
