I WISHED WE ’ D DONE IT EARLIER .
HOW BANYAN TREE DID IT
A Banyan Tree employee participates in a beach cleanup .
and in July will enforce compliance with its franchisees , says Caitrin O ’ Brien , Hilton corporate sustainability senior manager .
Different materials are available , from single-use paper or bamboo to reusable metal and silicone . Amos says the hotel just switched to a straw made from a wheat stem , a product normally discarded ( also gluten-free ). Sometimes a supplier switch is necessary .
Successful transitions require buy-in from F & B teams and sometimes need a bit of a mind shift from staff . The first step can be asking F & B staff to opt out of automatically giving straws to reduce total usage , says Roy Breiman , director of F & B at Seattlebased Columbia Hospitality , which owns and manages 42 properties , the majority in Washington state .
“ People have been kind of programmed to think that a straw comes with every beverage that you send out ,” he says .
Columbia worked with the Lonely Whale Foundation to help bring about Seattle ’ s plastic straw ban . It took a little education to change habits with staff and guests , but many quickly came on board . “ You encourage them to be part of this very positive movement to eradicate something that is kind of useless ,” he says .
Minor ’ s Roberts says allowing hotels , whether owned or managed , to choose alternatives helped . Some started creating drinks around different straws , such as
I WISHED WE ’ D DONE IT EARLIER .
JOHN ROBERTS , MINOR HOTELS
using vegetables like celery for straws . “ You throw an idea out there and some people are really inspired and go ahead and say , well , that sounds cool . What can I do ?”
SUCKING UP THE COST Plastic straw alternatives do cost more . Paul Sauceda , corporate director of sales and marketing for The Godfrey Hotel Boston , which uses waxed paper straws at its restaurant , Ruka , and lobby bar , says costs doubled , but it ’ s a relatively small amount more than covered by their use , frequently in higher-margin cocktails .
Roberts says the metal straws some Anantara locations use cost 17 times more than plastic . Many hotels find their costs eventually go down because they first opted out of giving any type of straw . Hilton says its Seattle Airport and Conference Center saves US $ 3,000 monthly this way .
Many hotels announce in advance their plans to switch . Branding
expert Rachel Weingarten says hotels making these pledges need to ensure they follow through . Consultant Bjorn Hanson agrees .
“ Brands who announce these initiatives have to be careful not to overstate ( what they ’ re doing ) because of the backlash of ‘ I trusted you and you deceived me .’ It doesn ’ t just do damage to the individual hotel , but it can interfere with the whole issue of brand value and integrity ,” he says .
HOW BANYAN TREE DID IT
On Earth Day 2018 , Banyan Tree announced a goal to reduce and ultimately eliminate all single-use plastic . One year later , the hotel has seen a 24 % reduction across all properties .
Banyan Tree started by measuring its “ plastic footprint ,” says Steve Newman , the company ’ s head of group sustainability . The chain wanted to know what it used , how much and where , eventually tracking 31 categories of plastic use . Banyan Tree ’ s top-performing properties are in the Maldives , where they reduced single-use plastic by 73 %.
Some changes were easy . Instead of using plastic trash-can liners , it now uses washable bins . Landscaping bags are now reusable . Instead of serving condiments like butter in plastic containers , washable dishes are used . “ Sometimes it requires us to go back to how hospitality used to be ,” Newman says .
The company struggles with how to eliminate plastics from products used in back-of-house necessary for hygiene , like cling film and plastic gloves for food prep , he says . But it is approaching alternative ideas with an eye toward long-term investment .
“ When you have properties that use over US $ 10,000 of cling film a year , you can start looking at things over a longer period of time and justify alternatives in that manner . If over three years you spend US $ 30,000 on cling film , ( maybe ) you can eventually find an alternative that would last longer than three years ,” Newman says .
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