The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enables businesses, governments, and other tourism stakeholders to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards circularity in the use of plastics.
Implemented in
- Africa
- Asia / Pacific
- Europe and Central Asia
- Latin America / Caribbean
- Middle East
- North America
Sectors of activity
Consumer Goods, Waste, incl. Chemicals, Tourism
Type of initiative
Capacity Building & Implementation, Education & Awareness Raising, Policy Frameworks & Tools
Start date
21/01/2020
End date
31/12/2025
Submitted on:
11/02/2021Objectives
Tourism companies and destinations have been making great strides towards reducing their environmental impact and operating in harmony with nature. Yet, the problem of plastic pollution in tourism is too big for any single organisation to fix on its own. To match the scale of the problem, changes need to take place across the whole tourism value chain. Therefore tourism stakeholders around the world are working together and taking a systemic approach through the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organizations to make a set of concrete and actionable commitments by 2025:
Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items;
Take action to move from single-use to reuse models or reusable alternatives;
(Engage the value chain to) move towards 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable;
Take action to increase the amount of recycled content across all plastic packaging and items used;
Collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics;
Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets.
Activities
As collected through the One Planet Reporting
Output level
Outreach and communication for SCP
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Announcement of first round of signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Announcement of first round of signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
UNEP and UNWTO
Objective
major global tourism companies Accor, with 5,000 hotels in 110 countries, Club Med, with close to 80 resorts over four continents, and Iberostar Group, with more than 120 hotels in 19 countries, cement their commitment to fighting plastic pollution and become three of the first official signatories to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, along with more than twenty signatories from across all continents, including major industry players and supporting organisations which will act as multipliers.
Achievements
20 companies, business associations and NGOs announced their commitments towards circular economy of plastics in tourism sector
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Second round of announcement of signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Second round of announcement of signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
UNEP and UNWTO
Objective
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative has welcomed 25 new signatories, including businesses and tourism organizations from every part of the global tourism value chain. Led by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common goal of addressing the root causes of plastic pollution.
Achievements
The new signatories include Booking.com, G Adventures, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Inkaterra, Tui Care Foundation, dSter of Gate Group and International Aviation Waste Management Platform, among others. They also feature suppliers of guest amenities, on-the-go packaging and waste-management platforms, as well as accommodation providers (both large groups and SMEs), leading online tourism platforms, tour operators, and associations working at the destination level. This Initiative was launched in January 2020 and now counts on 45 signatories, illustrating how reducing plastics pollution in tourism remains a priority despite the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The diversity of the signatories highlights the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative's potential to promote systemic solutions that can be implemented locally and scaled up globally.
Outcome level
SCP changes in practice
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Global Tourism Plastics Initiative signed by 46 companies and civil society representatives
Global Tourism Plastics Initiative signed by 46 companies and civil society representatives
Regions
Global / All regions
Lead organization
UNEP and UNWTO
Objective
The Initiative sets series of requirements on circular economy of plastics to tourism businesses and destinations. We are asking tourism sector actors do define specific targets for the elimination of single use items and packaging, so as for implementation of reuse models when elimination is not possible. The initiative also requests signatories to work on recycled content of plastics that they purchase and recycling and composting rates of plastics. We do this through signatory packs that are tailored for each sub-sector and type of actor. For instance, accommodation company will not be using same type of plastic items and packaging than aviation company, so on. To become signatory a company defines concrete targets on each of the pillar of the vision of circular economy of plastics (meaning on elimination, reuse, recycled content, recycling rates and collaboration across value chains). On the screen you can see signatory packs that we developed already in consultation with industry representatives. This means that industry members that have already a corresponding signatory pack have already sets of requirements to with they can commit by signing the initiative. Those are Accommodation providers, Tour operators, Online booking platforms and agencies, Suppliers, Destinations (national and local governments) and Supporting organizations (among which are business associations, NGOs, consultancies, waste management platforms). we have also developed a Tailored pack for very large companies that combine several businesses (accommodation+ theme parks+ cruise lines, aviation..so on) such company would be for instance Disney or TUI. Due to the covid crisis and slowed down activity of some of the tourism stakeholders, some menus of commitments, meaning some signatory packs still need to be discussed and validated by relevant industry representatives. Those are: aviation, cruise lines and MICE (which stands for Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) and potentially waste management entities. For the moment waste management platforms can commit to circular economy of plastics by signing commitments within signatory pack for supporting organizations, but we thought it would be interesting to develop a set of targets that would be more tailored for this specific industry.
Achievements
46 suppliers of guest amenities, on-the-go packaging and waste-management platforms, as well as accommodation providers took concrete and measurable commitments of circular economy of plastics, which result in modification of operations and pouching practices of these entities. In addition they committed to annual reporting which allows to track in a transparent manner progress in implementation of these changes in practice.
Impact and Results
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative supports companies, destinations, associations and NGOs through:
Sharing information about actions and solutions to the plastic pollution challenge being implemented across the sector;
Fostering sustainable procurement practices and collaboration with suppliers;
Promoting collaboration at destination level to improve waste management practices;
Consolidating and disseminating the progress reported by all signatories;
Showcasing the leadership of the sector.
Next steps and how to get involved
How to become part of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Businesses, destinations, associations and NGOs can become signatories of the Initiative.
"Business signatories" include tourism businesses of all subsectors. Currently, there are signatory packs available for accommodation providers, tour operators, travel agents, online travel agents, platforms and suppliers. Interested airlines, cruise lines and event organisers can join the co-creation process of tailored commitments, which are currently in development.
"Destination signatories" include national and local governments or destination management organizatoins (mainly public sector led).
Associations and NGOs can become "supporting organization signatories", together with business networks and other entities such as certification schemes, academia, consultancies and/or destination management organizations (mainly public-private or private sector led), which although do not have a large plastic footprint per se, can create multiplier effects across the tourism value chain.
Potential signatories should familiarise themselves with the Terms of Reference of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative as well as its common vision and common definitions, which can also be found in the annexes of the signatory packs for each respective organisation type at the pages linked to below.