Thanks to David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II, the plastic crisis is lodged in the minds and hearts of millions of people around the world. But, when it comes to solutions, we still have a long way to go. WTM London’s panel session, Plastic Waste: What should the industry do?, addresses the problem, explores innovative solutions and shares leading case studies from across the travel industry.

“It’s easy to think that by banning plastic straws and turning to refillable amenities hotels have done their bit, but this is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Andrea Nicholas of Green Tourism.

Moving beyond banning plastic straws, the whole travel industry – including tour operators, event companies, destinations, transport businesses, restaurants, trips, tours and hotels – needs to invest in eradicating single-use plastic front-of-house, back-of-house and across the entire supply chain.

The problem

Plastic pollution threatens everything we love about travel.

It can be found on every beach, however remote, and microplastics even litter Arctic ice. It’s estimated that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the open ocean and up to 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic every year.

Since plastic crosses oceans, flows down rivers and gets transported around the world in landfill and recycling schemes, many of us are oblivious to the problem. Only those who see it piling up in oceans and on beaches (like campaign group Surfers Against Sewage) have been quick to make a stand.

Go-to consultancy and advocacy group Travel Without Plastic understands the extent of the problem.

After experiencing what she describes as a “Styrofoam hotel breakfast” one morning, founder Jo Hendrix, worked out that “this pretty average-sized hotel was contributing almost 400,000 items of plastic waste to landfill every year–from breakfast cutlery and plates and bowls alone”.

The solutions

Those in the lead are exploring innovative back-of-house and supply-chain solutions to bring about real change. Meanwhile, less forward-thinking businesses are burying their head in the sand despite mounting consumer pressure.

Although action has been slow, motivation is higher than ever. “We have received a 700% increase in interest in the Green Tourism Certification Programme in the last year,” says Nicholas. “On the back of consumer demand, businesses are desperately looking for respected green credentials and support, and plastic reduction is an important part of this.”

At the moment, big businesses are leading the charge with compelling stats and statements of intent, while smaller companies are pioneering innovative and collaborative approaches. Organisations such as Water To Go, Travel Without Plastic and Green Tourism are supporting the industry in the transition away from a dependence on single-use plastic. Solutions explored in today’s panel session include making a commitment, investing in innovation and empowering communities and customers.

Making a commitment

IHG is the first global hotel company to remove bathroom miniatures in favour of refillable amenities across its entire property portfolio. This means that 200 million miniatures will be removed from over 800,000 guest rooms by 2021. CEO Keith Barr explains: “We know that this is what our guests, owners, colleagues, investors and suppliers rightly expect.”

IHG hopes the rest of the industry will follow, especially as it moves towards a “circular economy” approach to waste.

The next step for forward-thinking businesses is to use buying power to challenge and change supplier behaviour. This could involve everything from making sure dry-cleaning is delivered in reusable rather than plastic bags to purchasing fabrics made from recycled plastic.

Legislation is increasingly likely to play a role here, too. California is hoping to ban single-use amenities, and Taiwan recently joined a growing list of countries that have prohibited many single-use plastic items.