InterContinental Hotels Group to Remove Bathroom Miniatures to Reduce Plastic Waste

The InterContinental Athenaeum Athens hotel, a member of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, on Wednesday announced that all of its brands will remove bathroom miniatures in favor of bulk-size amenities by 2020.

IHG’s entire hotel estate adds up to some 843,000 guest rooms in 5,600 hotels and includes brands such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental.

The company’s switch to bulk-size bathroom amenities falls into its efforts to reduce plastic waste as part of a broader sustainability agenda.

“This pledge makes IHG the first global hotel company to commit all brands to removing bathroom miniatures in favour of bulk-size amenities,” the company said in an announcement.

IHG currently has an average of 200 million bathroom miniatures in use across its entire hotel estate every year. As the new brand standard is adopted between now and 2021, the company expects to see a significant reduction in plastic waste.

“Switching to larger-size amenities across more than 5,600 hotels around the world is a big step in the right direction and will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact as we make the change,” IHG CEO Keith Barr said.

This commitment builds on IHG’s pledge to remove plastic straws from its hotels by the end of 2019, and a number of broader waste reduction initiatives already in place.

According to the announcement, switching to bulk-size amenities is a tried and tested approach at IHG. The company underlined that several IHG brands are already achieving to be more sustainable and are receiving positive guest feedback.

IHG remains a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index, and recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy 100 network, signalling its commitment to working with cross-industry partners to build a more sustainable world.