Here at Paradores we are committed to sustainability and we have put in place a number of different initiatives to protect the environment, one of which is the reduction of single-use plastic.
We are in the process of changing our amenity sets so that our rooms are 100% free of non-reusable plastic. We have removed individual shampoo bottles and have replaced them with larger dispensers. The boxes for our new amenities are made from recycled cardboard and ecological soy ink and the accessories are made from ecological wheat straw resins. With this measure, we are taking close to 18 tonnes of plastic out of circulation.
What's more, we have also removed plastic bottles, glasses and straws from our establishments. The vending machines at our offices no longer stock plastic bottles of water and we have installed water fountains for our employees.
The straws and glasses were replaced in the month of May with alternatives made from PLA, polylactic acid, a polymer derived from lactic acid that is manufactured based on corn starch, wheat and other 100% natural products and are just as transparent as traditional plastic and are biodegradable in water and carbon oxide, decomposing at the same rate as paper, making it harmless to the environment with the advantage of being biocompostable. We also use straws made from sugarcane cardboard, a compostable material. With this decision, we are avoiding the use of more than 700,000 plastic straws per year. We also collaborate with the Oceanogràfic Foundation on the "Towards a sea without plastics" campaign in order to raise awareness among our employees of the grave problem that is the pollution of our seas with plastic and encourage them to collect plastic in the holiday areas they visit.
The reduction of single-use plastic is one of the pillars of Paradores' sustainability policy. Óscar López, our President and CEO, assures that "here at Paradores we work to protect and respect our environment. We have placed the United Nations and 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals at the heard of our business. Our staff are fully aware of, and collaborate to the best of their ability with, the many sustainability actions we undertake at Paradores every day. We are also proud of being able to raise awareness of the environment through the service we provide to our guests."
