Travel brands under The Travel Corporation (TTC) umbrella have taken a further stance against single-use plastic by removing all single-use plastic bottles from their coaches.
Single-use plastic bottles will now not be welcome on coaches operated by AAT Kings, Contiki, CostSaver, Insight Vacations, Inspiring Journeys, Luxury Gold and Trafalgar.
These brands join other TTC brands, including Uniworld, Red Carnation Hotels and U River Cruises, which have already removed plastic from their operations.
What’s the challenge?
With 8 million tonnes of plastic entering the oceans every year, it’s estimated that by 2050 there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
As the worlds biggest industry, the travel industry needs to be the driver of change when it comes to companies and their travellers impacting on the environments they operate in.
What’s the solution?
The Travel Corporation and its TreadRight Foundation have embarked on their own war against plastic with numerous initiatives across all the brands they operate and own.
In addition to coaches, TTC brands Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, CostSaver, AAT Kings and Inspiring Journeys will move away from non-biodegradable name tags and eliminate single-use plastic luggage tags with reusable, durable luggage tags.
Contiki is also trialling an innovative, long-lasting silicon one-litre water bottle this year, with a 300-use charcoal filter that’ll provide travellers with clean, safe drinking water at all times.
Finally, Red Carnation Hotels has successfully removed single-use plastic across 17 of its luxury hotels and has banned single-use plastic water bottles along with 20 other everyday plastic convenience items.
TreadRight has supported some 50-plus sustainable tourism projects worldwide to date. Support is provided through donations and grants to leading partners across the sustainable travel spectrum.
These projects all fall under the three pillars of TreadRight: People, Wildlife, Planet.
What will the positive impact be?
This latest initiative is expected to reduce plastic waste by several hundred thousand plastic bottles per year.
TTC Chief Executive and TreadRight Foundation Founder, Brett Tollman, said these steps are all part of an overall mission to “make travel matter”.
“We are working with our partners on the ground to make sure guests still have access to clean drinking water and will be identifying convenient points along the way they can safely and responsibly source drinking water.”
TTC Chief Executive and TreadRight Foundation Founder, Brett Tollman
“We will also be continuing our active efforts to find innovative ways to remove the few remaining single-use plastics throughout our organisation’s hotel properties, such as shampoo and body lotion plastic bottles.”
The TreadRight Foundation which began in 2008 will also be helping travellers explore more sustainably and make their travel matter with a series of videos providing tips on eliminating plastics and conserving water when travelling, as well as the do’s and don’ts for travellers interacting with animals.
Find out more:
www.treadright.org
www.ttc.com
How can you travel to change the world?
Congratulations! By reading this post and taking some of these insights on board, you’ve already made a difference.
Now you can easily create your impact by sharing your new-found knowledge with other friends who you think would also be interested.
Ultimately, responsible travel comes down to common sense – stay curious, keep yourself up-to-date with the challenges at hand and make yourself accountable for your actions on your travels.