The luxury hotel brand aims to eliminate single-use plastic from all its operational departments, including in rooms, spas, restaurants, bars and staff areas.

It has already removed or started to phase out 86% of the most commonly used plastic throwaways.

“Plastic waste is one of the gravest environmental concerns affecting our planet today,” group chief executive James Riley said.

“While our relatively small footprint limits our contribution to the world’s plastic reduction, as one of the most iconic luxury global hotel groups we are in a strong position to drive important changes in the industry.”

Individual Mandarin Oriental hotels are currently testing the best way to find plastic-free solutions, and the group is also working with suppliers on responsible procurement.

Progress reports on the single-use plastic elimination initiative will be issued every six months, starting in March 2020.