Six hotels in Singapore pledge to eliminate plastic disposables
Plastic disposables such as straws and toiletry bottles will soon be a thing of the past for several hotels in Singapore.
Ahead of World Environment Day next Tuesday, the Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) group has pledged to eliminate single-use plastics from all six of its Singapore hotels by June next year.
They are Orchard Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel, M Hotel, Studio M Hotel, M Social and Copthorne King's Hotel.
The hotels will gradually phase out the use of disposables such as straws, stirrers, cutlery, toiletry bottles and plastic bags, and opt for alternatives made with more environmentally friendly materials, such as paper and wood.
In a press release yesterday, MHR said the move comes as part of an effort to join the global fight against plastics.
"While the hotel industry benefits from the convenience of using plastic products, we see that it has long-lasting adverse impact on the environment," said Mr Lee Richards, vice-president of operations (South-east Asia) at MHR.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, more than 13 million tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean every year, killing 100,000 marine animals annually.
M Social has already replaced plastic straws with paper ones. It is also using environmentally friendly packaging, such as paper boxes for its takeaway service.
In all six hotels, the changes will affect more than 2,600 rooms.
Environmentally conscious guests will also be able to opt not to have their towels and bed linens change daily.
With the six hotels producing an average 67kg of plastics weekly, the initiative will cut down on the amount of pollutive waste by the group and save it nearly $500,000 a year in terms of expenditure on plastic products.
MHR's pledge follows Hilton's recent announcement on May 25 that it will eliminate plastic straws across its 23 managed hotels in Asia Pacific by the end of this year. This is part of Hilton's plan to halve its environmental footprint by 2030.
The changes are generally welcomed.
Said student Rachel Tey, 17: "I think having these waste-reducing initiatives in hotels is a selling point for these hotels."
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
