Brands making up the Indian Hotels Company are to eliminate the use of plastic straws in the next 100 days.
The group, operating Taj, Vivanta and Ginger hotels, has 165 properties, including 20 under development, across 12 countries in more than 80 locations.
The pledge decision follows a move to phase out single-use plastics on the occasion of Earth Hour.
The company introduced its first ‘zero single use plastic hotel’, the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa in the Andaman Islands, earlier this year.
All group hotels in the Indian state of Maharashtra, which incudes the capital of Mumbai, have already replaced plastic straws with those made of paper and other bio-degradable material.
Plastic straws are amongst the smallest plastic items used in the industry but they contribute to more than 4% of plastic pollution in the oceans.
Company managing director and CEO, Puneet Chhatwal, said: “We have taken a pledge to phase out single-use plastics from all our hotels so that we can play a small but significant role in our endeavour to conserve the environment.
“This decision of eliminating plastic straws is in line with our ethos of weaving in sustainable and responsible practices in business operations.”