Plastic Free Hotels in Kenya:Beating Single – use Plastics

The planet is on the verge of a global plastic calamity.With our oceans having to pay a heavy price for the worlds plastics,more tourism and hospitality players are acting by implementing environmentally friendly practices to reduce the pollution in the aquatic ecosystems.According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Impact Hub statistics,since 1950, 8.3 billion tons of plastics have been produced and 79% end up in landfills and nature.These statistics are alarming depicting the severity of the matter.Many businesses and corporations ought to make efforts to beat single-use plastics that have threatened the ecosystem health.

In Kenya Hotels are dedicated to providing sustainable tourist experiences to its clients because of its immense financial,cultural and environmental benefits.Beating single-use plastic is one of their core objectives for their environmental management strategies.For instance,On 29th January 2019,Seventeen hotels pledged to join the plastic free East African Coast campaign organised by the UN Environment in collaboration with Kenya Tourism Federation (KTF) and Eco-tourism Kenya.This is a milestone in the fight for a plastic free coastline in East Africa.

PLASTIC FREE HOTELS
Which are the leading hotels in Kenya in combating the plastic menace?What efforts are being adopted to make our environment plastic free?

Many hotels in Kenya have become more environment conscious and made efforts to go plastic free.The following hotels have made their contribution towards a plastic free world

Serena Beach Resort and Spa

They are committed to preservation and responsible management of natural resources at their facility.In 2017 they built a walk in chess from 2,512 flip flops collected along the beaches with two themes i.e marine life and the life cycle of a butterfly.This creates awareness of the threats of marine plastic debris on the aquatic life as well as the importance of marine conservation.
In its efforts to face out single-use plastics, they have introduced use of biodegradable straws,they serve water on Carafe during meetings and conferences and replaced throw away amenity bottles(shampoo,shower gel and lotion).

Tawi Lodge

Tawi lodge Located in Kilitome conservancy,issues its visitors with a re-usable water bottle for use during game drives and as a take-away souvenir. Glass bottles are also reused within the guest tents as drinking water cisterns. The initiative is aimed at plastic waste reduction.

Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa

This spectacular resort on the Coastal beach of Kenya has resolved in using glass water bottles and bamboo straws in its effort to reduce plastic wastes to protect the marine life on its coastline.

PrideInn Hotels

They announced their commitment in scraping away the use of plastic water bottles in all their facilities in an effort to protect the marine ecosystem.
PrideInn Hotels introduced the “Eliminate plastics Campaign”,which involves encouraging the conference delegates and vacationers to use water from the dispensers instead of plastic water bottles.Moreover,they conduct occasional beach cleanups in order to collect all the plastic wastes for proper disposal are protection of the aquatic life.

Hilton Hotels

Hilton Hotels have stopped the use of single-use plastics in all guests and meeting
Rooms embracing the use of glass bottles while eliminating purchase of plastic straws in order to reduce the amount of plastics that end up in landfills annually.

Medina Palms

Medina palms are not left out as well since they have resolved to banning use of plastic straws and water bottles in serving guests.Instead they use bamboo straws and glass bottled water.

Other Hotels that are making efforts towards plastic free world by using glass bottles and bamboo straws in their facilities include:

• Turtle Bay Beach Club
• Afrochic Diani
• Baobab Beach Resort and Spa
• Sands at Nomad Diani Beach

conclusion

Plastics have been useful in our daily lives and have been used in so many ways.However,the detrimental effects of plastics on our marine, rural and urban cities forces us to rethink its use.The tourism industry is making tremendous efforts to protect the environment by going plastic free.

More emphasis should be put in creating awareness on plastic pollution to change guests and stakeholders to be environmentally conscious.We should rethink and initiate cultural and behavioral changes towards a plastic free world.