G Adventures invites industry to address its single-use plastic problem

closeup of a caucasian man holding a glass reusable water bottle with the text life without plastic written in it, on the beach, with the ocean in the background
By Alexandra Coulton


G Adventures is calling on its industry partners to roll up their sleeves and get involved in its fight against single-use plastics.

The small group operator and social enterprise is asking all its suppliers for support to provide alternative solutions to disposable plastic water bottles such as clean drinking water and reusable vessels.

The ‘Plastics Partnership Project’ initiative has led to 80 per cent of the hotels in G Adventures supply chain committing to providing clean drinking water for travellers by January 2020, which equates to up to 3.5 million bottles being saved annually by the companies 200,000 travellers.

Jamie Sweeting, vice president of responsible travel and social enterprise at G Adventures, said the company has been making a conscious effort over the past few years to reduce plastics across the business, but realised that to shift the dial further it needed to engage not only its staff, but also suppliers, agency partners, and ultimately its travellers.

“We’re starting in a manageable way, with a focus on reducing the use of single-use plastic water bottles,” Sweeting said.

“We already take steps globally to reduce plastic in our offices and on our water-based tours, and we actively participate in beach clean-ups where we can. We know we can do more however, but we can’t do it alone.

“The Plastics Partnership Project is an invitation to work together to make small changes that can collectively make a big difference to our planet and its people. More than 350 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year and eight million of those end up in our oceans. Working collaboratively enables us to drive even more change in behaviour.”

In addition to the launch of the Plastics Partnership Project, G Adventures has partnered with industry travel experts, Travel Without Plastic, to develop tools and resources to help reduce single-use plastic throughout its operations.

The small group tour operator is also a member of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, which connects like-minded business looking to work together to reduce single-use plastics.

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