The IHG hotel group, including hotels like Holiday Inn and InterContinental, are becoming the first in the hospitality industry to eliminate bathroom miniatures. This change will eliminate an average of 200 million bathroom miniatures that IHG uses every year.
They will eliminate mini bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner, lotion and more and replace them with with refillable dispensers in 843,000 guest rooms in more than 5,600 hotels during 2021—all in the name of sustainability.
“Switching to larger-size amenities across more than 5,600 hotels around the world is a big step in the right direction and will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact as we make the change,” Keith Barr, CEO of IHG said.
In April, legislatures in California voted to eliminate mini bottles, replacing them with dispensers or bottles 12 ounces or larger. If approved, as expected, it would go into effect in 2023 and become the first state law of its kind.
This bill, and the move IHG has made to eliminate miniature toiletry bottles, is a part of the larger movement to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste. And this isn’t IHG’s first rodeo eliminating single-use plastic from their hotels. By the end of this year, all single-use plastic straws will be removed from their hotels. At 50 million straws a year, that is huge! And you can probably guess how happy this makes us.