As it advances its role as a responsible tourism provider locally and globally, 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.
- 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 centers, etc.) by the end of 2022.
With more than 200 million single-use plastic items used every year in all areas, hotels are already reducing significantly their impact. 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 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 our brands’ efforts. Its hotels incorporate water filtration taps in guest rooms to eliminate bottled water altogether.
- To go further, our new brand “Greet” was created to answer our 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 world-leading 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.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, led by the UN Environment Programme and the World Tourism Organization in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, draws a line in the sand in the fight against plastic waste and pollution. Governments and businesses, such as Accor, commit to a set of ambitious targets. We will work to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment. In September 2019, Accor Netherlands already took a step forward by signing the International Tourism Plastic Pledge led by MVO Netherlands and therefore initiating the work to becoming as soon as possible a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, for which a detailed commitment has to be presented, is a logical next step.
