The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG) has pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic (SUP) across its portfolio of luxury hotels. It is expected that all hotels will eliminate SUP by 2022, avoiding 930 tonnes of plastic waste each year. The most common SUP items were identified across the three main operational departments: F&B, spa and rooms. The six high-impact items that accounted for 81% of annual SUP waste generated were garbage bags (294 tonnes per year), water bottles (7.7 million bottles per year), slippers (816,000 pairs per year), vacuum bags for food (88 tonnes per year), cling film (80 tonnes per year), as well as shampoo, conditioner and shower gel (4.9 million bottles per year).

The pandemic hasn’t helped targets be met as it led to temporary hotel closures and low occupancies, which slowed the depletion of existing stocks of plastic products by up to 12 months. Supplier packaging is excluded from all calculations as MOHG does not have direct operational control, however, hotels continue to tackle this through collaborative actions with partners. The use of synthetic materials made with plastic fibers is also being progressively phased out, given their contribution to microplastics in the environment. Eco-alternatives are reviewed with circular economy considerations in mind in order to identify materials with a lower environmental impact, thus avoiding the transfer of environmental costs from plastics to another system.

As a supporter of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Group seeks to contribute to the communities in which it operates and responsibly manages its environmental impact and social commitment. Information on individual hotel’s own initiatives towards sustainability – for the environment, for their communities, and for their guests – is recorded in the Group’s Naturally Better campaign and is available on each hotel website.

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