By
Alex Smith |
TUI Cruises has reduced the number of plastic items used onboard its fleet by 30 million, following the first year of its Wasteless programme.
Measures to reduce plastic use have been introduced across all the cruise line’s ships and include the complete removal of plastic straws, cocktail stirrers and cocktail sticks. Newspapers ordered by the passengers are no longer wrapped in plastic, but instead hung from their cabin door handle by a recyclable hemp string. Plastic bags have been removed from the ships’ shops and been replaced by beach bags made from recycled PET or recyclable jute bags.
The biggest reduction was achieved this summer when TUI introduced butter dispensers across the fleet to replace the 10 million single portions that were previously used.
TUI Cruises has also replaced the 1.5 million single-use plastic aprons used by its chefs with cotton aprons and given all crew members reusable coffee cups.
“With 30 million single-use plastic items saved so far, we are looking back on a very successful first year of our Wasteless programme,” said Lucienne Damm, senior environmental manager at TUI Cruises. “And we still have a lot in the pipeline for 2020.”
These plans include the elimination of single-use water bottles from the cabins. Glass jugs will continue to be provided in each cabin and stainless steel bottles are currently being piloted onboard Mein Schiff 2. The bottles can be bought by guests for €9.90 (US$10.97) and refilled for free throughout the trip, allowing guests to take water with them on excursions. Other disposable plastic items to be removed in the next few months will include single portions of nut nougat spread, rain ponchos, plastic pens and plastic film.
The programme aims to remove all disposable plastic items from the six ships of the Mein Schiff fleet by the end of next year. It forms part of the TUI Group’s overall goal of using 250 million fewer disposable plastic products by 2020.