Boutique Travel Experts is proud to be a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
As a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, we endorse the common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution.
We commit to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need, innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment.
What is the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative?
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, associations and NGOs to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards a circularity in the use of plastics.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative has the objective to tackle plastic pollution by promoting a shift towards circular economy of plastics in tourism operations where plastics never become waste, rather than to completely eliminate plastics from all tourism operations. It is a systemic approach to plastic pollution where we eliminate (all problematic and unnecessary plastic items), innovate (to ensure that all other plastics are reusable, recyclable or compostable) and circulate (to keep plastic in the economy).
What is the aim of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative?
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organisations to make a set of concrete and actionable commitments by 2025:
- Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items by 2025;
- Take action to move from single-use to reuse models or reusable alternatives by 2025;
- 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;
- Commit to collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics;
- Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets.
How does the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative support the tourism sector?
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative will support companies, destinations, associations, and NGOs through:
- Sharing information about the plastic pollution challenge and the solutions being implemented across the sector;
- Fostering procurement practices that consider the plastic footprint of products and services and encourage circularity in the use of plastics;
- Promoting innovation and facilitating the cooperation between governments, local organisations, and businesses;
- Consolidating the progress reported by all signatories and establishing a performance benchmark;
- Publicly communicating the actions taken by signatories and showcasing the leadership of the sector.