This Hotel Chain Wants Your Stay to Be Plastic-Free (And So Do We)
The Basement Bowl at The Miami Beach Edition. The Miami Beach Edition is the first property to incorporate Edition Hotel's brand-wide Stay Plastic-Free initiative.
Worldwide hospitality brand Edition Hotels Plans to rid its properties of single-use plastics by 2019
With our help, Edition Hotels wants to stop contributing to the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic that litter our oceans. The hospitality brand, which has properties in destinations such as New York, Bangkok and Barcelona, has announced a Stay Plastic-Free initiative to help omit single-use plastic from the hotel industry.
This move is significant for many reasons—and they are pretty damn depressing. It is, however, essential that we come to terms with our current environmental predicament. Take a deep breath and read on:
- There are more particles of plastic in the ocean than there are stars in the galaxy.
- By 2050 there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
- Plastic debris will cause the death of more than 1 million seabirds this year.
- In 2018, it's estimated that 8 million tons of plastic will end up in the world’s oceans—that’s one garbage truck full every minute.
- There is one ton of plastic waste for every human on earth.
That said, Edition Hotels has plans to be 90 percent single-use plastic-free by the end of the first quarter of this year. The brand intends to be independent from single-use plastic by the same time next year. 👏👏
The Miami Beach Edition, for one, has already made significant changes to its day-to-day-operations in order to become more sustainable. The hotel admittedly has a long way to go, but here’s what the company has been able to measure in Miami over the last eight months:
- Approximately 397,000 plastic cups have been saved
- An estimated 20,000 plastic lids have been saved
- About 85,000 “to go” items and miscellaneous plastics from the hotel have been saved
- Some 9,000 plastic water bottles have been saved, with the intention of saving 118,000 plastic water bottles by the end of 2018
The Stay Plastic-Free initiative will provide plastic alternatives to everything from minibar items, coffee cups, straws, water bottles, bathroom amenities and food containers. The company hopes to inspire hoteliers worldwide to use alternatives to single-use plastic and incentivize guests to do the same. Let's do our part and support this hospitality brand and any other company who takes a stand against plastic waste.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
The Miami Beach Edition has saved 397,000 plastic cups and plans on going completely free of single-use plastic. Image courtesy of Edition Hotels