GTPI: Tourism's Plastic Pollution Problem

Published on October 7, 2021

Plastic pollution is one of the major environmental challenges of our time, and tourism has important role to play in contributing to the solution. Much of the plastic used in tourism is made to be thrown away and often can't be recycled, leading to large amounts of pollution.

With 80 per cent of all tourism taking place in coastal areas, plastic pollution from tourism can easily end up in oceans and waterways.

When not recycled, a single plastic bottle takes hundres of years to degrade, polluting waterways and outdoor spaces for centuries. The production of more than 300 million tonnes of new plastic every year also depletes natural resources and contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

The Global Tourism Plastics Intiiative unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enabled businesses, governments, and other tourism stakeholders to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards a circularity in the use of plastics.