BETHESDA, Md. — Marriott International is expanding an initiative to eliminate single-use toiletry bottles from guestrooms, replacing them with larger, pump-topped bottles.
To date, the company has already rolled out larger bottles at about 1,000 properties in North America, and now expects most of its other hotels to make the switch by December 2020. When fully implemented across the globe, Marriott International’s expanded toiletry program is expected to prevent about 500-million tiny bottles annually from going to landfills — amounting to approximately 1.7-million lbs of plastic, a 30-per-cent annual reduction from current amenity plastic usage.
“This is our second global initiative aimed at reducing single-use plastics in just over a year, which underscores how important we believe it is to continuously find ways to reduce our hotels’ environmental impact. It’s a huge priority for us,” says Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International. “Our guests are looking to us to make changes that will create a meaningful difference for the environment while not sacrificing the quality service and experience they expect from our hotels.”
The company began replacing single-use toiletry bottles in the guest bathrooms with larger toiletry bottles that contain more product in January 2018, starting with approximately 450 select-service hotels. Today, the hotels that have made the switch overwhelmingly report positive feedback from guests. Each brand will implement the larger amenity bottles in a way that is consistent with the brand experience and quality standards.
This initiative furthers Marriott International’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact through its Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction platform, which addresses social and environmental issues. As part of Serve 360, the company is working toward several sustainability goals, such as reducing landfill waste by 45 per cent and responsibly sourcing its top-10 product purchase categories by 2025.
