The operator said that with awareness of the “plastics crisis” at an all-time high, it was time the industry joined forces to dramatically reduce reliance on single-use plastics.
“We’re starting in a manageable way, with a focus on reducing the use of single-use plastic water bottles,” said G’s vice-president of responsible travel and social enterprise.
"We already taken steps globally to reduce plastic in our offices and on our water-based tours, and we actively participate in beach clean-ups where we can. We know we can do more however – but we can’t do it alone.”
G’s new Plastic Partnerships Project, an open invitation to the entire sector to take action on plastics, follows recognition by G that to ensure its efforts have greater impact, it needed to engage many more of its partners.
The operator has canvassed its entire hotel supply chain, with 80% of hotels committing to providing clean drinking water for travellers by January 2020 allowing them to use reusable bottles.
Across its 200,000 annual travellers, G believes the move could save up to 3.5 million plastic bottles being discarded.
Sweeting said while the company had been making conscious efforts in recent years to reduce plastics across the business, it had to look beyond just its own operations to that of its suppliers, agency partners and, ultimately, its travellers.
“The Plastics Partnership Project is an invitation to work together to make small changes that can collectively make a big difference to our planet and its people,” said Sweeting.
“More than 350 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year and eight million of those end up in our oceans. Working collaboratively enables us to drive even more change in behaviour.”
