{"id":17665,"date":"2019-08-23T01:29:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T01:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=17665"},"modified":"2019-08-24T01:43:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-24T01:43:45","slug":"removing-mini-shampoos-from-hotel-rooms-wont-save-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/removing-mini-shampoos-from-hotel-rooms-wont-save-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing mini-shampoos from hotel rooms won’t save the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yossi Sheffi<\/a>, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

InterContinental Hotels Group will replace<\/a> mini-shampoos and conditioners with possibly more efficient bulk products by the year 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But environmental activists shouldn\u2019t rejoice just yet.<\/p>\n

The announcement is yet another example \u2013 such as banning plastic straws<\/a>, false sustainability claims<\/a> and corporate commitments that are far in the future<\/a> \u2013 that seem to be more of a PR exercise than real attempts to move the needle.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a professor of engineering<\/a> and the director of the MIT Center of Transportation and Logistics<\/a>. As I argue in my book \u201cBalancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business<\/a> (And When Not To),\u201d announcements of these kinds distract us from legitimate \u2013 and more challenging \u2013 measures we need to put in place to avoid environmental catastrophe.<\/p>\n

Behind the headlines<\/h2>\n

InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Keith Barr<\/a> says that replacing miniature bathroom products \u201cwill allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact<\/a>\u201d at the conglomerate\u2019s hotel chains, which include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that the British foundation Clear Conscience<\/a> estimates that 200 million travel-size toiletries end up in U.K. landfills every year, but there\u2019s another motivation: With 5,600 hotels<\/a>, the savings for IHG can mount to over US$11 million annually.<\/p>\n

Additionally, studies<\/a> we have carried out at MIT and elsewhere<\/a> show that evaluations of a product\u2019s environmental impact can mislead if economists don\u2019t consider the entire supply chain management process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For example, most of the carbon footprint of companies like Apple<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and Cisco<\/a> comes from the suppliers who actually make the iPhones, routers and Xboxes, not directly from the company itself.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the net reduction in discarded plastic could be minimal at best if the larger containers are filled from single-use plastic pouches<\/a>. Also, we do not yet know if the larger containers are recyclable, nor the cost and environmental impacts of making, transporting, installing and maintaining them.<\/p>\n

Even if replacing miniature toiletries does reduce waste somewhat \u2013 as other hotel chains join the movement<\/a> and California is moving to ban<\/a> them \u2013 the move to bulk products will barely put a dent in the plastic waste that now clogs<\/a> the planet\u2019s rivers and oceans. It is another \u201cfeel good\u201d initiative which help avoid the move to more serious actions that can actually make a difference.<\/p>\n

Banning plastic straws<\/a> is another such example. While outlawing plastic straws makes for excellent public relations copy, it has virtually no impact<\/a> on the global accumulation of plastic garbage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Skin-deep support<\/h2>\n

At least the hotel chain is responding to consumers\u2019 professed increasing support<\/a> for green products and services, right?<\/p>\n

Some studies find that more than 80% of consumers say they will make personal sacrifices<\/a> to address social and environmental issues. However, when actually buying goods, consumer support<\/a> for environmental products largely evaporates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To try to explain the gap between what people say and how much they\u2019re willing to pay, my students and I observed consumers\u2019 choices in supermarkets in Boston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These supermarkets presented sustainable choices in large green frames around the sustainable products \u2013 detergents, soaps, paper products and others \u2013 alongside \u201cregular\u201d products in the same isle. Fewer than 10% of consumers chose the sustainable products, though the study found somewhat higher percentages among highly educated and higher income consumers. The sustainable products were, by and large, between 5% and 7% more expensive.<\/p>\n

Given customer ambivalence toward paying for green products, companies engage in token measures that insulate them from reputational damage<\/a> and the unwanted attention of environmental groups<\/a>, which could lead to NGO and media complaints or consumer boycotts<\/a> and lost sales.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, brands will reclassify economically sensible cost-cutting initiatives, such as energy savings<\/a>, as sustainability initiatives.<\/p>\n

One good way to green hotels is to restrict hotels\u2019 use of energy-thirsty air conditioning<\/a>. Another is to charge guests for not reusing towels rather than imploring them to reuse these items<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Granted, a slogan that states \u201cOur hotel will not keep rooms cooler than 75 degrees in the summer and no warmer than 65 degrees in the winter\u201d may not increase hotels\u2019 market share. Even the replacement of the small shampoo bottles with bulk dispensers is leading to consumers\u2019 apprehension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
InterContinental Hotels Group is considering flushing their mini-toiletries down the drain and replacing them with bulk items.<\/span>
\nKR_Netez\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Futile gestures<\/h2>\n

Perhaps the most damaging fallout from symbolic corporate green \u201cfeel good\u201d initiatives is that they distract from actions that can make a difference.<\/p>\n

More specifically, companies could focus their efforts on carbon-reducing technology<\/a>. No existing technologies are available on a global scale, but a small example of such a successful international agreement is the \u201cMontreal Protocol<\/a>\u201d to ban substances that deplete the ozone layer.<\/p>\n

Governments could implement adaptation measures for the changing climate such as building sea walls<\/a> on vulnerable coastlines, planning for changes in food production patterns<\/a> and the massive migration that may follow<\/a>. An example of a comprehensive adaption strategy is the work of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a world where companies engage in tokenism to satisfy their customers\u2019 false green preferences, InterContinental Hotels Group efforts are perfectly acceptable. But that world is likely to be short-lived.<\/p>\n

[ You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Yossi Sheffi<\/a>, Professor of Engineering; Director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yossi Sheffi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology InterContinental Hotels Group will replace mini-shampoos and conditioners with possibly more efficient bulk products by the year 2021. But environmental activists shouldn\u2019t rejoice just yet. The announcement is yet another example \u2013 such as banning plastic straws, false sustainability claims and corporate commitments that are far in the future […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":17660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1862],"tags":[207,832,2573,5587,3364,172,224,144,4961,6830,5062,4970,6831,726,3069],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17670,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17665\/revisions\/17670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}