In a few years from now, Hotels in the nation’s most populous state California will no longer be able to supply their guests travel-size bottles of shampoo and lotion as a new law set to take effect starting in 2023. Hotels would have to mount reusable dispensers in its place.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced on Wednesday that he has signed a bill that bans hotels from giving such bottles with shampoo, conditioner or soap.This move will be an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste being thrown away by hotels and guests. This ban will apply to the above 515,000 hotel rooms in California. Once the law becomes operational it will apply immediately to hotels with more than 50 rooms and by 2024 hotels with less than 50 rooms must stop using tiny plastic bottles.
However, as the bill says this rule would not be applied on hospitals, nursing homes, residential retirement communities, prisons, jails or homeless sheltersl.
Any hotel disobey the rule could be fined $500 for a first offense with a written warning for each day of violation and $2,000 for any second orsubsequent violations.
Marriott International has already declared of its decision to stop using tiny plastic bottles by December2020 while IHG announced it will remove about 200 million small plastic bottles by 2021.
The state has already banned grocery stores from giving customers single-use plastic bags without charging a fee.
The city of Santa Cruz had also passed such a ban, scheduled to take effect by Dec. 31, 2020.
Walt Disney Co. declared last year that it would dispose of small plastic shampoo bottles at its resorts and cruise ships.
However, the Personal Care Products Council opposed the ban, arguing it would hurt personal care product manufacturers.
