The Plastic Problem
As part of the overall guest experience, hotels include amenities in their guest rooms and bathrooms. While they make life easier for guests, they have also become a burden on the environment. Guest amenities generate a significant amount of plastic waste, which ends up in landfills or, worse, the ocean. If plastic waste is not recycled, it can take tens to hundreds of years to decompose. When it breaks down, it also degrades into hazardous microplastic particles. Offering fewer amenities is an obvious approach to cutting pollution. However, neither guests nor hotels are always prepared to do without certain amenities.
Using eco-friendly guest toiletries is one alternative. Environmentally friendly hotel amenities made of bamboo or other natural materials are available for several of these items.
Sustainable Alternatives
Replacing Plastic Shampoo and Lotion Bottles
Replacing plastic shampoo and lotion bottles. Eco-friendly hotel toiletries available today in 2022
As more travellers and governments become aware of the problem, an increasing number of hotels are taking steps to combat pollution caused by amenities. Typically, small bottles of shampoo and shower gel are the first targets. Smaller hotels and larger chains, such as Marriott, have started to replace them with wall-mounted refillable dispensers.
Shampoos and lotions used to refill these wall mount dispensers come in 5 litre and 10 litre cans.
Sustainable Hotel Amenities Packaging
What’s the problem with packaging? Are they not made of paper and are they not biodegradable?
The majority of hotels pack guest amenities on paper boards. However, they are not completely biodegradable. A coating applied to the top of the boxes to give them a matt or glossy appearance is actually a very thin layer of plastic. So, when selecting packaging for your amenities, look for something made of recycled paper and free of plastic coatings. Today, various options are available for making the packaging of hotel amenities eco-friendly, like – paper pouches, recycled Kraft paper boxes, lamination free paper boxes and even elegant matte finished bio-plastic pouches made of corn and rice starch.
Dental Kit: Bamboo Toothbrushes and Toothpaste Tablets
The most well-known and popular benefit is that a bamboo-based toothbrush eliminates unnecessary waste while providing the same level of cleaning as a plastic brush. Recycling, reusing, or composting your toothbrush packaging and tossing it has never been easier.
Another advantage of bamboo is that it is antimicrobial by nature. Cutting boards and kitchen utensils are made of wood and bamboo for a reason. Unlike plastic, the bamboo’s internal properties kill bacteria that penetrate its surface, providing long-term protection against harmful bacteria.
Toothpaste tablets, or “tooth tabs,” take your regular paste, remove the water, and compress it into a pill-like shape. If you’re used to squeezing a toothpaste tube twice a day, it may take some time to adjust to a tablet, but the instructions are straightforward:
- Place one tablet in your mouth.
- Gently chew the tablet and mix with your saliva to form a paste.
- Wet your toothbrush and brush for two minutes.
It may take an extra rinse or two to remove any remaining grit, but your mouth will be as fresh and clean as if you had used regular toothpaste.
Environmentally-friendly packaging: Most tablets are packaged in glass or tin containers that can be reused or recycled. It can even come in compostable pouches for hotels. All of this contributes to a reduction in the amount of plastic used.
Shaving Kit: Bamboo Shaving Razor and Shaving Soap
The majority of razors in hotel rooms are made of plastic. Bamboo razors, like bamboo toothbrushes, are becoming more widely available. A bamboo razor is an excellent substitute. The razor’s handle is made of bamboo. It is naturally antibacterial, water-resistant, and completely biodegradable, and it grows in a sustainable manner. The razor has two blades and provides a smooth shave.
While considering to replace shaving razors with bamboo shaving razors, the shaving gel sachets are also to be considered. They mostly come in plastic laminated foil sachets. The alternative to this is shaving soaps.
Shaving soaps have existed since the early 1800’s but are less commonly used in the mainstream today, which is a crying shame. For hotels, rather than including a sachet of shave gel in the Shaving Kit, it could be replaced with a 10 gram shaving soap.
Use a loofah to lather the soap. Using loofah for shaving will not only help you to cleanse the dead skin from your facial skin, but it will also work for softening your skin so that you can get a ‘PERFECT’ shaving experience.
Bamboo Comb
Bamboo combs, like bamboo toothbrushes and razors, are becoming increasingly popular. The advantage of bamboo combs is that guests will want to take them with them, and the pocket size will entice them to keep them in their purses as well. We believe that guests will never throw it away.
Bio-degradable Shower Caps and Sanitary Disposal Bags
Shower caps and sanitary disposal bags are commonly made of PVC or other types of plastic. These are now available in biodegradable materials thanks to the development of bio-plastics made from rice and corn starch. According to studies, these shower caps and sanitary disposal bags will decompose 90 percent in soil after 300 days.
Making the Switch to Sustainable Guest Toiletries
Today, if hotels so desire, there are options and alternatives to transforming into eco-friendly guest toiletries. Hotels would undoubtedly end up paying more than their plastic counterparts.
The good news is that travellers are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly accommodations and for hotels that provide eco-friendly guest amenities. According to a Nielsen survey, 73 percent of millennials worldwide are willing to pay more for services from companies that are committed to making a positive environmental impact. Most travellers understand that being environmentally conscious can sometimes be more expensive. As a result, from a financial standpoint, there may be a positive impact on revenues, either through a higher room rate or a higher occupancy rate. However, when introducing eco-friendly hotel amenities, costs should not rise disproportionately. Many hotels choose to provide fewer in-room amenities while charging a slightly higher price for the ones that remain.