Sustainable Alternatives to Single-Use Plastics

The world traded about 369 million tonnes of plastics in 2021 – enough to fill over 18 million trucks. The queue would wrap around the globe 13 times. Since less than 10% of all plastics produced have been recycled, most of the products in those trucks will end up littering our streets and flooding our seas.

But nature abounds in sustainable materials like bamboo, sand, banana plants and algae that could be used to make eco-friendly versions of the straws, shopping bags, bottles, food wrappers and other plastic products we consume daily.

Hospitality Industry

Alternatives to single-use plastics in hotels are a hot topic for global accommodation providers wanting to be a part of green hospitality. As the world is slowly transitioning away from the linear economy towards sustainability and circularity, world-renowned hotel chains are leading the way in how they deal with plastic waste generated from their operational day-to-day activities.

Last year, leading organisations in hospitality united in their fight against single-use plastic pollution by signing the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative that require all the participants to make an actionable plan for eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic items and transitioning to reusable alternatives by 2025. The implementation of the Initiative is supervised by The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and UN Environment Program (UNEP) in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Alternatives? The use of refillable water bottles – your establishment can brand them to your liking. Paper and bamboo straws compared to plastic straws as they are biodegradable. The use of stainless-steel straws however requires good levels of hygiene. Accor was one of the first Hospitality group to commit to progressively eliminate single-use plastic items from the guest experience. In Kenya, most Eco-camps have taken up this responsible route too through the Eco-rating certification programme by Ecotourism Kenya.

Sports Industry

Sporting events can show true leadership by eliminating single-use plastic from their sites and advocating throughout their supply chain and fan base for everyone to play their part in reducing plastic footprint.

Single-use plastic appears most often through food and beverage service – bottles, cups, containers, wrappers, sachets, cutlery, straws, and stirrers. The Ocean Race sustainability programme ‘Racing with Purpose’ recognised the critical environmental challenge facing the world and with the race’s global platform there’s a unique opportunity and clear responsibility to fight for this urgent issue.

“We’re harnessing the ambition of the Race to be a force for change and drive the protection and restoration of our seas. We want an ocean that is healthy and full of life. This ultimately benefits nature and us all.  We aim to drastically reduce our plastic footprint and commit to collecting separately, measuring, reporting and balancing any unavoidable single-use plastic through investing in social plastic offsets.’’ Meegan Jones, sustainability programme advisor – The Ocean Race.

The recently concluded Wimbledon championship, saw a partnership between Wimbledon and evian – a Danone brand, who launched a new refillable system pilot for players, that enabled some of the world’s biggest tennis stars to ditch single-use plastics bottles during the tournament. Players received reusable bottles to be refilled with evian natural mineral water on the court and at designated player areas, including practice courts, dressing rooms, and restaurants.

Travel and Tourism Industry

The Travel & Tourism sector undoubtedly plays a key role in global prosperity. The industry identifies that water bottles, disposable toiletries, plastic bags and bin liners, food packaging and cups are the five most frequently polluting single-use plastic products. These are items directly procured by tourism businesses and offered to their guests and consumers.

Whether you want to be an Eco-traveller, or want to reduce your waste and carbon footprint these are some simple swaps to make; bring your plastic-free reusable items with you, book sustainable accommodation hotels, eat locally sourced food, choose environmentally friendly activities and participate in local initiatives like clean ups.

There is a need for coordination between national and local authorities and enhanced coordination across the Travel & Tourism sector and value chain actors, including working in partnership with suppliers of consumable products to identify the best possible alternative approaches.

More on how you can travel sustainably? Read more here