Plastic is something we encounter every day, but are we really aware of its bad impact on our environment? At this moment, we produce 300 millions tons of plastic per year just for production of plastic bags, bottles, and plastic containers. Out of this we only recycle 10%. In the upcoming years, this can lead to a global ecological catastrophe, the consequences of which will be felt by everybody. A huge proportion of plastic waste ends up in our oceans, especially in »third world« countries, which still do not have adequate solutions in place for collecting plastic waste or are simply overflowed with waste in general. At the end of the day, the plastic ends up in our stomach, as the plastic breaks down to microplastic only to be eaten by the marine organism. According to some expert estimates, by 2050 there will be more plastic waste in our oceans, then fish (compared in weight). More than 3 billion people are relying upon fish as their primate protein source.

This year’s Earth day slogan is End Plastic pollution. Accordingly to that European Commission has submitted a proposal for a complete ban on single-use plastic. If this is accepted, by 2030 all single-use plastic in circulation will have to be suitable for recycling. Most important is to find solutions for handling with single-use plastic such as plastic sticks, plastic cutlery, plates & straws, and cotton swab sticks, while also limiting the number of plastic bottles, food containers etc. Slovenian waste collection centers were considered as a global example of how to treat the waste and are able to recycle up to 95% of the waste. Today they are overflowed with an excessive amount of waste for which they simply have no space.

The first water bottle for commercial use was produced in 1947 and will completely decompose in 2347. In the USA, bottled water is a second most bought beverage in supermarkets. To give you a better understanding: one plastic bag decomposes in 10-20 years, a plastic bottle will take up to 450 years to decompose and only one small plastic straw can take up to 200 years. This calls for a global action and hopefully it will make you think next time you grab a plastic bag in the grocery store.

In Hotel Park Urban&Green we are committed to sustainable development. We already adopted the practice of minimizing plastic waste, we don`t serve beverages in plastic containers, all plastic packages of soap was changed with doses installed in the bathrooms, we replaced plastic cups with paper ones,… Our next step is a SUMMER WITHOUT PLASTIC STRAWS and thereafter a complete ban on plastic straws. We will replace plastic straws with an environmentally friendlier solution – paper straws. By doing so we are trying to have a better impact on the environment and also encourage our guests, employees and local community to do the same.

We are removing plastic straws from our bar on 1.7.2018, so will you join us? 