Last week, the New York Times reported that single-use toiletry bottles of 12 ounces or less will be banned from hotels in New York starting in 2025.
The decision from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation follows similar actions from its peers in California and Washington.
Really? In 2025, with the decision made only in mid-2024!
The conservation department said the ruling will first apply to hotels with more than 50 rooms, before being extended in 2026 to those with fewer.
This is a stick, not a carrot.
Initially, hotels that continue in the practice will get a written warning, and if they do not rectify the situation within a month, they will be fined $250. Further offenses will see that fine doubled for each infraction, with penalty proceeds going to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.
Many hotel firms have already decided to go with the carrot method and banned the use of these tiny bottles, most of which only get partially used.
Do they get filled up again?
I do look suspiciously, though, at the large bottles attached to shower walls with unbranded gunk inside them.
I have always had long hair, and in the hotels I stay in, I spare few moments' thought in the shower as to what I am caking on it. Is it shampoo, is it soap? Is it that mysterious substance called “all-purpose cleaner,” and should that really be going on my scalp?
It just strikes me as very odd why still we are having this discussion about single-use toiletry bottles.
The New York Times article added “[IHG Hotels & Resorts] and Marriott [International] are among the larger chains that have pledged to curb their reliance on plastic, starting with toiletry bottles.”
Surely, this could have been done years ago, despite these two companies’ sincere moves in the right direction. Marriott, for example, said 95% of these bottles would be eliminated by the end of 2024, one day before New York State possibly could start fining.
The article raised a couple of issues, and of course these might well be brought up by frustrated guests. One was that the larger, wall-mounted receptacles are harder to clean. That has a cost. And some guests might prefer not to touch a bottle that perhaps numerous others already have.
A hotelier quoted in the article said he thought about having ketchup-style sachets, but he was worried guests would find these hard to open when their hands are wet, which they would be, unless one opened them before turning the shower on.
How often would we remember to do that?
According to the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, half the plastic produced in the world is intended for single-use products, including toiletries.
Yes, much is recycled, but not creating it in the first place must be the better solution.
There has to be a collective, intelligent gathering of hotelier minds to get rid of this problem today, not tomorrow.
When I packed for my recent trip to Namibia, I made sure I had all my clothes packed in cloth bags. I did this because in Etosha National Park, one of the country’s jewels, plastic bags are illegal. Fines can be issued, although no one checked my luggage.
As I packed, I remember thinking I am able to contribute something, not that the Nanny State is telling me what to do.
I am sure there are many guests and travelers who feel the same.
Namibia is to ban plastic bags everywhere very soon, and I have heard Rwanda has already done so.
Many hotel firms have done sterling work in this, but let’s just get this completely done.
Any more delay is not justifiable.
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