After learning about New Orleans’ inaugural litter-pick initiative Recycle Dat – introduced to help clean up after the city’s legendary Mardi Gras celebrations – Paramount Cruises head of sales Patrick Hill and senior product manager Marco Macchieraldo donned some plastic gloves, grabbed a bin bag and started collecting.
"We did a few trips up and down the parade route and I think we emptied out the backpack around half a dozen times," Macchieraldo told TTG.
"It’s criminal how much [litter] goes to landfill, and we always come back feeling a bit guilty from this trip, so we thought we’d volunteer for a few hours.
"Knowing we have at least contributed to a scheme, which will hopefully be expanded by the city in the coming years, fills us with some positivity and hope for the future."
Paramount plans to increase its focus on sustainable travel options and highlight in-destination initiatives customers can get involved with while on holiday.
"Seeing how sustainability has been brought to the forefront in recent years gives us more confidence when promoting and selling these destinations to our clients," Macchieraldo explained.
Closer to home, The Travel Village Group, based in Blackpool, has plans to launch beach clean events in and around the seaside in partnership with Royal Caribbean.
Group content manager Jess Clayton told TTG the initiative was born of the agency’s "extensive" ties to the local community.
"In the past, we’ve supported the community by collecting warm clothing or for food banks, but beach cleans are something we’ve been discussing for a while," she said.
Clayton added that as a coastal town and one of the North West’s biggest attractions, Blackpool receives millions of visitors year-round – and while this brings benefits to the area, it also results in a significant amount of littering.
"As a cruise agency, we feel a huge connection with the seas and oceans – beach cleans are just one way we can show our commitment to helping combat pollution," she said.
The agency’s first litter-pick will take place at Blackpool’s Central beach on 18 April. The firm will also work with start-up business Tangle, which turns discarded fishing nets into pet products such as leads, bowls and toys.
Keighley’s Olive Lounge Travel, meanwhile, recently refurbished its high street store with recycled PET acoustic felt and installed a Brita water filter solution to eliminate the use of single-use plastics.
Co-founders Gillian Polyhos and Joanne Edwards told TTG the agency had also changed the material it uses to produce its welcome home cards from paper to a recycled solution derived from cotton fibres – and elephant dung.
"This has been a fun and creative way to not only keep our clients engaged, but one that actively supports a local community in India," the duo explained.
"Each card is unique, dependant on the individual elephant’s age and diet, and the proceeds actively contribute towards the running of a number of elephant sanctuaries in India."
The store has also partnered with global charity Toilet Twinning to sponsor a lavatory in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Elsewhere Edwina Lonsdale, owner of London-based Mundy Cruising, said the secret to promoting sustainable travel lies with the cruise lines themselves.
"We use news content we produce to highlight this," she told TTG. "We then promote this through our digital and social marketing too, so we have an ongoing campaign highlighting cruise lines’ initiatives."
