Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic across its entire portfolio of luxury hotels by the end of March 2021.
While the travel industry has already made great strides towards the removal of plastic straws and single-use drinking bottles, the Group is keen to play its part in the luxury hotel segment and commit to a wider and more challenging aim to abolish all single-use plastic currently in use across all operational departments, including rooms, spa, transport, restaurants and bars.
The aim is to cover plastics used in all areas of the hotel, and not just in the public areas that the customer sees.
To achieve this, an elimination campaign has been underway for some time at all properties. Having completed a thorough stock inventory, the Group identified 23 of the most common items of single-use plastic currently in use across the portfolio.
To date, 86% of these initial items have been eliminated or are being phased out in all hotels. The efforts currently underway include testing concepts and inviting colleagues from every hotel to find solutions which can then be shared as best practice internally.
Mandarin Oriental is also collaborating with its suppliers to drive responsible procurement and provide alternative products that are both viable and suitable for the luxury hotel environment.
