Eco-friendly health and beauty products are just one way we can all help tackle the climate crisis. Earlier this year, Olay became the first major beauty retailer to use refillable packaging. We’ve also seen an increase in eco-friendly sanitary products on the market. And The Body Shop announced the reintroduction of its recycling scheme. 

With the recent news of the Amazon rainforest fires, plastic literally falling from the sky in the Antarctic and the burden of the climate crisis mostly falling on women’s shoulders ⁠— we must continue to fight. Every little change made by individuals and companies helps, but the big corporations must step up. 

Yesterday (28 August), a major hotel chain made an announcement that will save the planet from 1.7 million pounds of plastic in its landfills. 

Marriott International, which is the world’s biggest hotel chain, is reducing its environmental impact by banning small plastic toiletry bottles. The chain will replace all of its single-use bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel with much larger pump bottles. It has already rolled out larger bottles at around 1,000 hotels in America, but it aims to complete the global rollout by December 2020. This will prevent around 500 million little bottles from going to landfills each year. To put that even more into perspective: it equates to about 1.7 million pounds of plastic. 

The move is part of Marriott’s larger commitment to reduce its environmental impact as part of its Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction platform that addresses social and environmental issues. As part of Serve 360, the company is working towards several sustainability goals such as reducing landfill waste by 45% and responsibly sourcing its top 10 product purchase categories by 2025. Last year, Marriott also phased out the use of disposable straws and stirrers. 

“This is our second global initiative aimed at reducing single-use plastics in just over a year, which underscores how important we believe it is to continuously find ways to reduce our hotels’ environmental impact. It’s a huge priority for us,” said Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International. “Our guests are looking to us to make changes that will create a meaningful difference for the environment while not sacrificing the quality service and experience they expect from our hotels.”

Images: Getty