HAN initiates campaign to eliminate plastic from hotel rooms

KATHMANDU: Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) organizes a campaign, “Eliminating single-use plastics from hotel rooms” and promotes eco-friendly products for green hospitality in the hotel industry.

Plastic is one of the most important innovations of our time, but single-use plastic has a severe influence on the environment. Single-use Plastic is a convenient comfort in today’s world because of its inexpensive production cost and wide range of applications. At the same time, the disposable nature of these single-use products contributes to one of the most significant sources of pollution in our ecosystem.

World-renowned hotel chains are leading the way in how they deal with plastic trash generated by their operational day-to-day activities as the world steadily transitions away from the linear economy toward sustainability and circularity.

Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away. These items are things like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and packaging. Roughly 300 million tons of plastic each year is produced and half of it is disposable.

Elimination of single-use plastics from hotel rooms and replacing it with reusable alternatives have become a number one goal for many stakeholders across the hospitality industry globally. Giving it a continuation, HAN has been seeking alternatives to the commonly found single-use plastic items in hotel rooms for environmental sustainability.

HAN commits to spread awareness by hosting a workshop and demonstrating the alternative products with its Chapter Presidents and Executive committee members.

By launching this campaign, HAN is taking a step forward to use eco-friendly products which has become our first priority for a number of reasons including cost saving, customer loyalty and most importantly, environmental impact. This may look like a small initiative at the moment but is a huge contribution when all the hospitality industry comes together.

For instance, accordingly to a sustainability report by booking.com, 68% of clients are interested in searching out eco-friendly hotels, and 87% of travelers worldwide state that they want to travel sustainably.

HAN has a firm conviction that the initiatives will be supported by all stakeholders which will ultimately contribute in the domain of Sustainable Tourism in Nepal and its competitive branding globally as a promoter of Green Tourism in Nepal.