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All of the travel companies and places phasing out single-use plastic

By BRIDGET HALLINAN From Condr Nast Traveler

American Airlines, Carnival Cruises, and more.

It’s no secret that the world has a plastic problem: Globally, almost 300 million tons of plastic are produced annually—half of which is single-use—and more than eight million tons of that plastic are dumped into the ocean, according to the Plastic Oceans Foundation. This is devastatingly harmful to the environment, unsurprisingly, which is why several travel companies and destinations have stepped up to reduce their output by eliminating single-use plastics (e.g. straws). Here’s a list of who has pledged to #stopsucking, so far:

Airlines

Alaska Airlines
Alaska was the original airline to ditch straws. On May 21, they announced that single-use plastic straws—and “citrus picks”—will be banned from all of their flights and airport lounges starting July 16, as previously reported byTraveler.

American Airlines
Starting this month in its lounges, American will replace all plastic straws with biodegradable straws, swap plastic drink picks with wooden ones, and start offering eco-friendly flatware. Come November, only wooden drink picks will be offered in flight. Overall, the airline expects to cut down their plastic use by 71,000 pounds a year.

Cruises

Royal Caribbean
The cruise liner intends to eliminate all plastic straws on their ships by the end of this year—guests will be asked to use paper straws instead. In the future, Royal Caribbean will also implement wooden coffee stirrers and drink picks, and look to get rid of plastic bags, cups, and condiment packets at the start of 2019, too, per USA Today.

Carnival Cruises
In April, Carnival announced that they would cease providing straws for cocktails and sodas automatically, according to USA Today—effective immediately. Passengers will only be able to get them upon request. (Straws for frozen drinks are an exception.)

Hurtigruten
The Norwegian cruise line pledged that by July 2, 2018, they’d remove all unnecessary single-use plastic—including straws and cups, coffee lids and plastic bags—from their ships, and replace it with environmentally friendly substitutes.

Peregrine Adventures
Peregrine Adventures has a reputation for being eco-friendly, and bolstered it by banning unnecessary single-use plastics (straws, cups, etc.) on all their exclusive charter adventure cruises.

Hotels

Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Back in May, the hotel chain announced that they’ll be removing plastic straws from all 650 of their hotels by the end of this year (eliminating 35 million straws annually). The hotel chain also has an overall goal of cutting their environmental impact in half by 2030.

Four Seasons
Four Seasons announced in April that they would eliminate plastic straws from all 110 of their hotels by the end of 2018.

Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces
Taj Hotels, in addition to Vivanta, Gateway, and Ginger Hotels (all owned by Indian Hotels Company Limited), is actively working to eliminate single plastic use—their outpost on the Havelock Islands, Taj Andamans, is a already a “zero single-use plastic hotel,” according to a press release.

Accor Hotels
AccorHotels said in May that they’d be banning plastic straws in all of their125 UK locations, effective June 1, which has also expanded to their 83 North America and Central locations this month.

Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants
Scott Gingerich, senior vice president of Kimpton restaurants and bars, told Mic that they’re in the process of replacing single-use plastic straws with compostable and metal ones.

SIXTY Hotels
SIXTY Hotels, which has locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, also told Mic they’re currently eliminating plastic straws from all their hotels.

Six Senses hotels, Resorts, & Spas
The brand has been bottling its own water on-site for the past 15 years to reduce plastic water bottle production, and has also initiated a plastic straw ban at Six Senses Zighy Bay, according to a June press release.

Anantara and AVANI Hotels & Resorts
The brands announced in a December 2017 press release that starting January 1, 2018, they would be eliminating plastic straws from all hotels and resorts in Asia. They also have locations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and South America.

The Doyle Collection
The hotel chain, which has locations including London, Dublin, and Washington, D.C., confirmed they are working to eliminate plastic straws on Facebook this past May.

Marriott International
Back in February, Marriott International pledged to remove plastic straws from 60 of its U.K. hotels, with biodegradable or paper replacements available upon request. The company will also replace mini-plastic shampoo bottles with wall-mounted dispensers in 1,500 of its North American hotels, per theNew York Times.

Edition Hotels
The Marriott-owned brand, which has 11 locations (including London, Abu Dhabi, and Barcelona), plans to remove all single-use plastics from their hotels in 2019.

1Hotels
1Hotels launched their switch-out, no plastic campaign, where they asked Black Friday customers to switch out plastic bags for reusable ones, with a startling fact—by 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish. The brand offers biodegradable straws instead of plastic ones upon request, and their rooms have glass cups and filtered water instead of plastic bottles, according to Mic. Even their mattresses have minimal environmental impact, as they’re made of organic cotton. (You can learn more about their eco-friendly options here.)

Hyatt
Hyatt announced mid-July that they plan on phasing out plastic straws and drink picks at all of their locations (there are more than 700), and will only offer them upon request starting September 1, as previously reported byTraveler. “Eliminating plastic straws and drink picks builds on the environmental sustainability programs we have in place and further drives our global efforts to reduce environmental impact,” said Hyatt’s senior vice president of global operations, Frank Lavey, in a statement.

Restaurants and coffee chains

HMS Host
HMSHost, a restaurant company with footholds in multiple airports across the U.S. (including Wicker Park Seafood & Sushi at Chicago O’Hare and Barcüterie in Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport), said in a press release Wednesday that they plan to eliminate all plastic straw use by 2020. Around 100 million straws were used at their North American locations last year, per the release.

Starbucks
Your favorite airport caffeine fix is about to go straw-free. Earlier this week, the coffee company revealed their goal to eliminate all plastic straws in their stores by 2020, which could potentially eliminate one billion straws a year. The replacement? A sippy-cup lid (with compostable plastic or paper straw available upon request). This decision piggybacks their existing policy to take ten cents off your purchase if you place your order with a reusable cup.

Intelligentsia Coffee
All Intelligentsia stores will stop providing plastic straws on July 15. Going forward, customers have the option to ask for a compostable straw or buy a reusable metal straw in-store. Like Starbucks, there are bonus points if you bring your own cup.

Joe Coffee
The NYC and Philadelphia-based chain will replace all single-use plastic straws with compostable straws made from cornstarch in July, effective in all 19 locations.

Destinations

In addition to the businesses that have #stoppedsucking, several destinations have pledged to totally ban straws, or are proposing a ban on them. A running list:

1. Alameda, California
2. Carmel, California
3. Davis, California
4. Malibu, California
5. Manhattan Beach, California
6. Oakland, California
7. Richmond, California
8. San Luis Obispo, California
9. Fort Myers, Florida
10. Miami Beach, Florida
11. Monmouth Beach, New Jersey
12. Seattle, Washington
13. Edmonds, Washington
14. Vancouver, B.C.
15. The U.K.
16. Taiwan
17. Belize

This is a developing story. We’ll continue to update as more companies and destinations state their policies. Did we miss any? Just let us know on Twitter or Facebook

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