Read time: 6 minutes

Welcome to the weekly AST Briefing.

In the words of our impact partner Seven Clean Seas, “Plastic Free July has started , we’re here to serve you some realness.”

Plastic Free July is a month-long global initiative that promotes reducing single-use plastics and embracing sustainable practices.

Solution to Plastic Pollution: Make Plastics Obsolete

Is it 1,000 metric tons of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or 2,000 tons? Does it matter anymore at this point? Plastics and microplastics permeate every aspect of all life on earth. 

Some may ask: what’s the harm of plastics anyway? Are we living with them already? 

This issue is not just about unsightly litter; it's a major contributor to the broader climate and health crises that we all face.

Plastic Pollution: A Polycrisis

Plastic pollution is closely linked to climate change. Plastic production, breakdown, and disposal all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental harm. 

Plastic pollution leads to declines in biodiversity. Accumulated plastic debris alters the physical characteristics of habitats, making them less suitable for native species and potentially leading to the death of animals and declines in biodiversity.

Further, plastics and microplastics are also a growing health issue. Microplastics and nanoplastics are found in the placenta and breastmilk, and Southeast Asians are found to ingest the highest amount of microplastics globally. Hazardous, endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in plastics can cause hormonal disruptions, reproductive issues, and other health problems in wildlife and humans.

Plastic pollution affects small island states and remote communities disproportionately. It is because plastic pollution damages key sectors such as fishing and tourism that these economies depend on. South Pacific island nations such as Fiji and Tahiti produce less than 1.3% of the mismanaged plastics, yet they are some of the main victims of plastic pollution. 

State of Play

Yet, all in all, the plastic industry is worth $712 billion a year and continues to grow.

Plastic, derived from fossil fuels, will even become crucial for the oil industry grappling with global initiatives to shift away from oil and gas to address climate change.

Sultan Al Jaber, the chief of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, told the Guardian at COP28 that if “the company’s production capacity of 600,000 barrels per day wasn’t required in a renewable energy-driven world, those hydrocarbons could be converted into plastics instead.” He emphasized, “Everything around us is made from this finite resource. We have to accept that.”

Do we? (Seriously!)

The Paramount Role of the Travel Industry

For an industry that depends on the beauty and health of our planet, the travel sector has a special responsibility and opportunity to take the lead in tackling this problem.

Travel and hospitality companies play a vital role as guardians of our planet's landscapes and ecosystems.

Taking decisive action to reduce plastic dependency is essential for preserving the beauty and health of our planet.

The Existential Question for the Industry is How? 

Reduce plastics before replacing them

From running a water bottling plant on the property to requesting suppliers to use less packaging, there is no shortage of excellent examples of how to run a single-use-plastic-free hotel. Just to name a few, Six Senses, Bach Suites Saigon, Desa Potato and Fivelements in Bali, Jaya House River Park in Siem Reap, and Tiger Mountain Polkara Retreat in Nepal are leading the charge in this movement.  

But for many people and businesses, the hardest part is how to get started. The confusion often leads to mishandling of plastic waste. Sarah Rhodes, Founder of Plastic Free Southeast Asia, underscores, “Replacing plastic-stemmed cotton swabs for bamboo-stemmed cotton swabs is not the right approach. Hotels should instead look at whether the swabs are even needed in the first place.”

It’s a team effort, not one person’s job.

 “People only focus on what they deem important, so when staff are left out of the consultation and education part of reducing single-use plastics, implementing reusables and recycling, then the message is that it's not important, and so that's why it comes across that they don't care.” 

This makes it critically important that all staff must be involved right from the start.

»»» Rhodes outlines top 2 actions that even hotels with limited resources can implement. Read here.

Effect change beyond your property grounds

We hear this very often - “what’s in it for me to convince my communities and partners to phase out plastic usage?” 

By leading the charge in advocating for plastic reduction and elimination in their value chain, hotels position themselves as a forward-thinking and responsible business and scale positive impacts and influence. 

Think about life-cycles 

On the destination level, the South Pacific Vanuatu and the Indian state of Sikkim are prime examples of local governments implementing effective measures to combat plastic pollution. 

However, it goes without saying that achieving truly zero plastic waste is incredibly hard for communities and nations of any size. Dr. Christina Shaw, CEO of the Vanuatu Environment and Science Society (VESS), told The Economist in an interview, “Small island nations like Vanuatu do not control the whole life-cycle of plastics. All of our plastics are imported.” 

This naturally raises the question of swapping out plastic materials with non-plastic ones and delivering solutions to recycle and get rid of legacy plastics.

At the end of the day, the conventional wisdom suggests that we should not be mopping the floor while the tap is running. 

»»» Upstream: Is swapping out plastic materials with non-plastic alternatives a good strategy? Read more.

»»» Downstream: Recycling is not enough. Removing legacy plastics is imperative to slow down biodiversity loss. Read more about Plastic Credits.

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