The Travel Corporation (TTC) recently announced that, from the start of its 2019 operating season, its brands (Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, Costsaver, Brendan Vacations, Contiki, AAT Kings and Inspiring Journeys) will stop making single-use plastic bottles available on their coach buses.
These brands join sister companies Uniworld, Red Carnation Hotels and U River Cruises (U by Uniworld), which have already removed plastic water bottles from their operations. On top of this initiative, Uniworld pledged to become single-use plastic free by 2022—having already removed all plastic straws, water bottles and related single-use items from its ships.
This announcement is a continuation of TTC’s single-use plastics elimination initiative from last June. This latest plan is designed to reduce plastic waste by several hundred thousand plastic bottles per year. TTC brands Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, CostSaver, AAT Kings and Inspiring Journeys will also be eliminating several hundred thousand pieces of single-use plastics from their operations by moving away from using non-biodegradable name tags for all guests on their trips. Single-use plastic luggage tags will be replaced by reusable, durable luggage tags.
Contiki is also testing a long-lasting silicon water bottle, with a 300-use charcoal filter, on several its trips this year around the world. The results from this year’s trial will then be shared with other TTC brands.
Red Carnation Hotels has banned single use plastic water bottles, along with over 20 everyday plastic convenience items from all properties.
TTC teams around the world will be mobilizing all Earth Month long for community clean-ups, sustainability education seminars, and volunteer projects.
The TreadRight Foundation will also be helping travelers navigate the world in a greener way through a series of videos providing tips on eliminating plastics and conserving water when traveling, as well as the do’s and don’ts for travelers interacting with animals. The video series will be released in the week leading up to Earth Day on Sunday, April 22.
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