Anantara Eradicates Use of Plastic Straws

Anantara Hotels & Resorts will roll out a global ban on the use of single-use plastic straws at every property worldwide by 1 October 2018. Since January of this year, when Anantara was the first major hotel brand to announce its decision to eradicate plastic straws at every single property across the Asia region, Anantara has been working hard to roll out the ban to properties in Australasia, Europe and the Middle East.

“Following the immense success of the first phase of the plastic straw ban at all Anantara properties in Asia, we are thrilled to announce the implementation of this policy worldwide,” explains John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability & Conservation for Anantara. “Each single-use plastic straw takes hundreds of years to break down and scientists predict there may soon be more straws than fish in the oceans by 2050. Anantara guests are forward thinking and sustainably minded and want to continue to enjoy the beautifully lush surroundings for which Anantara is famous for generations to come.”

The decision to ban plastic straws is just one more step in Anantara’s ongoing journey as a leading luxury sustainable tourism brand. In April of this year, Anantara took the decision to replace the packaging of all dry amenities with compostable paper and plastic toothbrushes have been replaced with a biodegradable straw alternative. For years, locally sourced toiletries such as shampoo, have been provided in larger ceramic pumps to reduce the amount of packaging and waste created by individual mini servings. This alone prevents an estimated 4.16 million plastic bottles from ending up in landfills around the world annually.

Plastic water bottles are the next ubiquitous item earmarked for total abolition across the Anantara portfolio. All plastic water bottles will be banned from rooms and gyms to be replaced with recyclable glass or refillable alternatives as a brand standard by the end of 2018. Until then, guests will increasingly notice an absence of plastic from all outlets and facilities in the Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas they frequent. The restaurants will soon be managed without any plastic front of house; from the condiments on tables to the wicker baskets housing the freshly baked pastries at breakfast. Even around the grounds guests will notice that team members use bamboo baskets to collect compostable gardening trimmings instead of plastic sacks.

As a leading experiential luxury brand, guests are offered the chance to positively give back to the community framework of the destination they visit. Whether it be releasing rescued turtles at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket, planting restored coral at the nurseries off of Anantara Dhigu Villas in the Maldives or working with local AIDS survivors to generate sustainable income by providing Anantara Royal Livingstone with locally farmed mushrooms.

Since 2014, Anantara guests have been invited through the Dollars for Deeds Program to donate 1 dollar for every night of their stay, which Anantara then matches. These charitable donations are then distributed to several of the foundations that Anantara Hotels support, including the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation established since 2002 and the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, since 2006. To read more about the charitable initiatives supported by Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas, please visit the Social Responsibility page of the website.