BETHESDA, Md. — Marriott International has adopted a plan to remove disposable plastic straws and plastic stirrers from its more than 6,500 properties worldwide by July 2019. As part of the initiative, hotels will offer alternative straws upon request.
Once fully implemented, the company predicts it could eliminate the use of more than 1-billion plastic straws per year and about a quarter-billion stirrers. The company is also eliminating plastic straws from its corporate headquarters.
“We are proud to be among the first large U.S. companies to announce that we’re eliminating plastic straws in our properties worldwide,” says Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International. “Removing plastic straws is one of the simplest ways our guests can contribute to plastic reduction when staying with us — something they are increasingly concerned about and are already doing in their own homes. We are committed to operating responsibly and — with more than one-million guests staying with us every night — we think this is a powerful step forward to reducing our reliance on plastics.”
Earlier this year, Marriott also began replacing small toiletry bottles in the guest bathrooms of about 450 select-service hotels with larger, in-shower dispensers. The new toiletry dispensers are expected to be in place at more than 1,500 hotels in North America by the end of this year, which would enable Marriott to eliminate more than 35-million small plastic toiletry bottles annually.
