Cruise operator Royal Caribbean International has signalled its intention to eliminate use of single-use plastics on ships in its fleet.
President and chief executive Michael Bayley told The Telegraph that it intends to reduce plastic use in all of its brands, including Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises.
He did not put a date on when it will be able to achieve the elimination of single-used plastics, but confirmed investigations are underway by a specially team created within the organisation.
He said: “We have a newly-formed plastics team within the corporation. We manage our waste very well but we have an exciting opportunity to play our part in the overall reduction of plastic, which, it’s becoming clear for all to see, has such a negative impact on our oceans.
“There are three elements to this – we want to eliminate single-use, disposable plastic, such as straws and drinks bottles and reduce the amount of plastic in [the operations side of] the business – chairs, bags, staff belts and shoes for example. [We also] we want to influence our supply chain because we have to do this together.”
The use of plastics in travel and the impact waste is having on the environment, in particular the oceans, has been highlighted recently by new luxury travel firm Vivid Travel which says it will impose a ‘plastic levy’ on some airline sales from 2019.
Yesterday Ryanair announced it will be plastic-free by 2023 as part of its Always Getting Better programme of initiatives.