Eco Warriors

Increasingly, the hospitality industry is devising innovative ways to go plastic-free

- Todd Plummer

AS THE GLOBAL hospitality community wakes up to the urgency of sustainability, going plastic-free is starting to take center stage. Of course, there have long been the high-end eco-resort concepts that have prioritized plastic-free practices. Playa Viva in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, has been plastic-free since its opening in 2008. And in 2022, The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, launched the country's first resort-based conservation technology project using drones. A team of scientists will study aerial photography of Indian Ocean waters to map habitat health and target large pieces of plastic debris for removal.

But still, for every bungalow in the Maldives that gives you an aluminum water bottle at check-in, there are 30 budget hotels across the American Midwest where single-use plastic bathroom amenities are still the norm. What will it take for hotels-everywhere-to go plastic-free?