Hilton (NYSE: HLT) today announced that it has fulfilled its commitment to eliminate the use of plastic straws from its UAE hotels. Plastic bottles used in meetings and event spaces have also been removed. As a result of adopting these new standards, approximately 3.5 million plastic straws and over 2 million plastic water bottles will be removed each year from Hilton’s 25 hotels in the country.
In addition to carrying out these measures, Hilton properties in the UAE have continued to take additional steps to reduce consumption of single use plastics. Over 2.4 million plastic food and beverage products and 5 million plastic bags have been replaced with biodegradable alternatives.
William Costley, VP of Operations for the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey at Hilton said, “Last May, we made a promise to eliminate plastic straws as well as plastic bottled water from meetings and events, from all of our UAE hotels, and we are proud to have accomplished this goal. We will continue to work with suppliers to ensure that wherever possible, single use plastic items are replaced with biodegradable and/or paper alternatives. These efforts support our global Travel with Purpose goal to cut our environmental footprint in half by 2030, to be better stewards of our natural resources, and have a lighter environmental impact in our local communities.”
According to numbers revealed by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) in June 2018, the UAE consumes 13 billion bags of plastic and approximately 450 billion plastic bottles a year, with eight million tonnes of plastic making their way into the oceans every year.
“These figures highlight why it is incumbent on all organizations to make sustainability a strategic priority,” added Costley.
Beyond the UAE, Hilton is taking steps to completely remove plastic water bottles from meetings and events in managed hotels across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. It has also committed to removing plastic straws, stir sticks and cocktail picks from all 5,600+ hotels globally this year.
