Spanish multinational company Iberostar, a 100%-owned hotelier with more than 120 hotels operating in 19 countries around the world, seeks new ways of being more sustainable and reducing its impact on the environment. For this purpose, the company famous for its four- and five-star hotels and iconic hotels in Playa de Palma and other parts of Palma de Majorca launched a new program called #WaveofChange.
Reducing plastic waste and potentially bringing it to zero is the main purpose of the new program. This is crucial for local communities that live close to tourist areas and for the ecosystem of our planet in general. A circular economy that reuses and recycles as many materials as possible is the target of the Wave of Change. Modern travelers become more concerned about their ecological imprint, with 85% of guests praising Iberostar for its sustainability efforts. Moreover, over half of respondents (68%) in Iberostar’s own survey say that they consider sustainability when they choose a hotel.
Such iconic properties as Iberostar’s hotel in Budapest and other countries participate in the program. Together they have eliminated 400 tons of plastic this year. At the moment, not all hotels participate in this initiative, but they will be included by the end of the year. All 120 hotels will be also free of single-use plastics by the end of the year. All of Iberostar’s hotels in Spain will have zero single-use plastics on-site by the end of 2019.
In 2020, the hotelier plans to stop using single-use plastics completely. The only exception will be made for countries that require this by law. This small step means a lot for the environment. Multi-use recyclables allow removing 2,700 kg of plastic per year. All trash bins in bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms will have plant-based bags, which will remove 134,619 kg of plastics a year. The use of compostable coffee capsules means that 1 million of plastic coffee capsules will not be thrown to the environment.
Even such small steps as replacing pens with pencils in rooms or switching to ecological guest ID wristbands will remove 3,240 kg and 1,226 kg of plastics a year respectively. Iberostar underlines that all these changes can be done without making guest experience less enjoyable. In fact, guests barely notice the change and do not miss single-use plastics. Many hotels in Majorca and the Dominican Republic by Iberostar have water-refilling stations that prevent these hotels from generating 85,000 plastic water bottles a year.