Published 01. August 2018.
The largest Croatian tourism company joined the environmental protection initiative that the largest world’s hotel chains Marriott and Hyatt have recently launched in their hotels, restaurants and bars.
As of 1 August, Valamar Riviera’s guests will no longer be offered conventional, plastic straws but only biodegradable cellulose straws. With this, the largest Croatian tourism company joins the world’s environmental protection initiative to ban the use of plastic straws, with some of the largest hotel chains in the world, such as Marriott International and Hyatt Hotels, having done the same recently. In fact, it takes only a few seconds to produce a plastic straw that is used only 10 minutes on average and takes as much as 500 years to decompose.
“We are proud to be the first Croatian tourism company that will no longer use plastic straws because of their negative impact on the environment. Straws will no longer be served with drinks while the new standard in our properties will be biodegradable straws that will be served on request. Plastic straws will first be removed from all Valamar Collection and Valamar Hotels & Resorts properties as well as from all the restaurants and bars at Valamar Riviera. We have been especially committed to environmental preservation and sustainable business and we believe that this is an important step in plastic waste reduction”, said Dario Kinkela, F&B general manager at Valamar Riviera.
The ban on plastic straws is part of the ambitious European plan aiming to make all plastic packaging on the European market recyclable by 2030. Thus, the European Commission proposed a ban on plastic products, including plastic straws that make up as much as 70 percent of waste found on European beaches and represent about one half of sea-polluting waste. It is a known fact that plastic takes a long time to decompose in the environment and negatively affects numerous sea animals.
Green Valamar is one of the umbrella programs of corporate social responsibility at Valamar Riviera. It includes various initiatives and projects aimed at environmental protection as part of Valamar’s systematic efforts in this area. Special attention is devoted to the reduction of GHG emissions, water consumption, waste generation as well as recycling, wastewater treatment and reuse in irrigation and in laundry facilities, the improvement of solar energy use, the purchase of environmentally friendly materials especially for key investments, raising awareness among guests, employees and the local population about the importance of preserving the Adriatic Sea and coast as well as the organization of beach and seabed clean-ups. Guided by these goals, Valamar Riviera will therefore put an end to the use of plastic straws.