will now be getting full-sized bath products in their rooms.
InterContinental Group is eliminating the travel-sized tubes of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel from its 843,000 rooms across its global chain of hotels beginning in 2021. IHG which owns Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Kimpton and many others, is the first major hotel chain to make the change. IHG CEO Keith Barr said,
“Switching to larger-size amenities across more than 5,600 hotels around the world is a big step in the right direction and will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact as we make the change.”
Nearly 200 million miniature-sized toiletries are placed in rooms every year and replacing them with bulk-sized accessories will lead to a
“significant reduction in plastic waste.”
The British-based company is currently undergoing a huge sustainability effort removing plastic straws by the end of the year and is using duvet and pillow covers made with 100% recycled materials in some of its rooms.
In a smaller-scale initiative, Marriott announced last year it was replacing miniature-sized plastic toiletries with bulk-sized dispensers at 1,500 hotels in North America. Hilton Hotels said this March that it’s recycling used soap and making it into new bars of soap. (Not gross. They’ve been crushed and sanitized.)
Hotels are becoming more environmentally conscious because businesses face disruption from climate change. Plus, customers are more and more demanding about products and services that are environmentally friendly.
California is considering a bill that would ban small plastic bottles typically used for toiletries beginning in 2023.
Bravo for making the change, but now people will just steal the large size, no?
(Photo, IHG; via CNN)
