The objective of the project was to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by participating hotels by 10%, without reducing the quality of the guest experience.
Through collaboration with Thomas Cook destination staff, management and personnel from participating hotels, as well as the guests at these hotels, we worked to cut down the amount of single-use plastic being consumed.
The target of 10% reduction in plastic waste was selected based on the preliminary results from a pilot project in Paphos, which achieved good results.
One hotel in particular, Ascos Coral Beach Hotel, achieved excellent results by replacing single use plastic cups with multi-use durable cups. This hotel is part of a chain of hotels and as the management team recognised the business benefits together with the impact on the environment, it was decided to extend the project to further hotels in 2011 in the resorts of Paphos and Agia Napa/Protaras.
Plastic Reduction Guidelines
The following plastic reduction guidelines were presented to Hotel Managers to apply in their hotels.
• Replace one use plastic cups with multi-use durable cups around the pool area • Replace bottled water with drinking water dispensers served in durable cups • Stop the use of bin liners in the bedrooms and use in bathrooms only • Train hotel employees to use the correct size and thickness of plastic liners • Change plastic liners only when soiled • Consider alternative options to wrapping glasses in plastic in bathrooms • Discontinue the wrapping of fruit baskets with plastic • Use refillable dispensers rather than individual packaging for soap and shampoos • Provide straws only when requested from hotel guests • Purchase cleaning materials in bulk • Collect garden waste in trolleys instead of plastic liners
Overall participating hotels saved an average of 19% on the total number of plastic items used in 2011 compared with 2010.
