G Hotel Gurney and G Hotel Kelawai both have stepped up the battle against plastic pollution and have stopped using the plastic straws as of October 2018. The hotels found an alternative for this initiative by introducing the use of paper straws.
The Federal Territories have released a statement recently to ban on the use of plastic drinking straws effective Jan 1, 2020 and urging industries to find better alternatives. This is aimed at traders and operators of food outlets who are license holders.
G Hotel went ahead by making all its Food and Beverage outlets, VIP lounges, room service and even banqueting to use only the paper straws from this year onwards. 10,000 paper straws were prepared to kick start the ban of plastic straws in the hotel, which were bought at a higher price than plastic straws. However, this does not affect the pricing of the drinks in the hotels as the cost is absorbed by the hotel.
The paper straws used are made of FDA approved paper material, biodegradable and with food safe ink. It does not turn soft after some long hours submerging in the drink and neither does the colour fade. G Hotel also introduced stainless steel straws with three different sizes that comes with a brush in a pouch as an option for customers to purchase and reuse.
“As a five star hotel, we are expected to provide excellent customer service. We cannot do without straws, however, the implementation of the alternatives will help us to preserve the environment and cater to the customer’s need at the same time,” explained Michael Hanratty, General Manager of G Hotel.
This is part of the hotel’s Go Green initiative. Hence, the paper straws will be recycled together with other recyclable items collected by the hotels on a monthly basis such as newspapers, mixed papers, black & white papers, mineral bottles, plastic bottles, carton boxes, tins & cans, metal scraps and cooking oils. The fund collected from the recycling efforts will be used for Corporate Social Responsibility programmes and charity purposes.
G Hotel is one of the first few hotels in Malaysia that has spearheaded this initiative to preserve the environment. A video was made to create the awareness as in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcq8PY7NXK8 to encourage more people to join their initiatives by using better alternatives such as paper straws. Together, we can help save Mother Earth.
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