ITC Hotels to ban single-use plastic

In keeping with ITC Hotels ethos of Responsible Luxury, the luxury hotel chain endeavors to eliminate single use plastic products by the end of 2019. Single use plastic will be eliminated from the Front area by October and from the back of the house by December, 2019.

Already ITC Hotels have been the first to introduce water glass bottles in 2012 way before other hotels. With water bottles making up a huge percentage of the items, they were the foremost priority for the group. ITC Hotels created the Sunya Aqua brand meaning 'Zero Mile' water, in order to eliminate all plastic water bottles.

The Sunya Aqua is provided in reusable glass bottles and is purified in each hotel through a new purification system, meaning no transportation is used, eradicating the creation of emissions and waste management issues, as well as eliminating the leading single use plastic across the hotels.

SunyaAqua water will be provided in all guest rooms, meeting rooms, restaurants, and Banquets in place of plastic water bottles.

Speaking about the initiative, Dipak Haksar, Chief Executive, ITC Hotels and Welcomhotel states "Responsible Luxury is a way of life for us at ITC Hotels. We have been working on various parameters of the Sustainability initiative since decades, so to become the first hotel chain in India to achieve the distinction of going single use plastic free was a natural next step for us. The Indian government is working hard to control and limit plastic use, and we are proud to be at the forefront of this project for the benefit of India, and indeed the world."

ITC is also extending other crucial measures to protect both the environment and their guests. The chain's flagship hotel, ITC Maurya in New Delhi already provides cleanest air for guests, at par with WHO standards. This is done without significantly disrupting existing infrastructure, allowing guests to stay at ITC Maurya safe in the knowledge that they are protected from the exterior air pollution, while not contributing to any additional harmful emissions to the environment.

In addition, all ITC Luxury Hotels are certified for Radiation Protection through Harmonisers.

As a large hotel chain, food waste is a key concern, but ITC has proven that it can be avoided, introducing a variety of initiatives to prevent food waste. This most recently includes the 'One Bite Wonders' - elegant and healthy snacks served with drinks, replacing large wasteful platters whilst displaying ITC Hotel's renowned culinary excellence.

Haksar went on to say "ITC Hotels prides itself on hosting guests in a luxury setting without any feelings of guilt or obligation. If they wish to take a long shower (sourced from our self-sustainable water plant), order a delicious meal, or utilise the air-con (powered totally by our own wind farm energy) while staying in any of our hotels, they can do so in the knowledge that they are not harming the environment in any way."

Under another initiative taken to avoid dependency on non-renewable resources, luxury hotels like ITC Maratha and ITC Grand Central in Mumbai, ITC Rajputana in Jaipur, ITC Grand Chola in Chennai, ITC Windsor and ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru among others are meeting their total electrical energy demand through renewable sources – 100% powered by wind turbines through the hotels' own wind farms.