Plastic Free July: Practical Ways Travel Businesses Can Reduce Waste

For years, the travel industry's plastic conversation has centered on straws and water bottles. Those efforts helped raise awareness and, in many cases, drove meaningful change. But if we're being honest, they can no longer be the finish line.

The opportunities in front of us are much bigger. They live in our purchasing decisions, supplier relationships, event planning, product development, and the choices we make every day about what we buy, promote, and prioritize.

This Plastic Free July, consider looking beyond the obvious. Here are five practical ways travel businesses can reduce waste, support destinations, and create lasting change long after July ends:

1. Ask Better Questions of Your Suppliers

Whether you're sourcing hotels, attractions, transportation providers, destinations, or local experiences, ask how they are approaching waste reduction and plastic use. Not as a pass/fail requirement, but as a conversation starter.

When buyers, advisors, and destinations consistently ask these questions, suppliers begin to recognize that sustainability is becoming part of what defines quality and value.

Not sure where to start? Tourism Cares' Supplier Evaluation Checklist offers a practical framework for incorporating sustainability considerations into supplier conversations and decision-making.

2. Design for the Destination

Not every destination has the same infrastructure, water systems, waste management capabilities, or community priorities. What works in one place may not be practical, appropriate, or even possible in another.

Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach, work with destination partners, local businesses, and communities to understand what waste reduction strategies make the most sense locally. That could mean investing in refill infrastructure, sourcing larger-format containers instead of individual bottles, reducing unnecessary packaging, or supporting local efforts to strengthen waste management systems.

The goal is not perfection. It's making thoughtful choices that reduce waste while meeting the needs of travelers and host communities.

3. Rethink What Gets Given Away

From conference swag and welcome gifts to branded merchandise and promotional items, the travel industry distributes an enormous amount of stuff.

Before ordering the next giveaway, ask whether it will still be useful six months from now. Consider fewer, higher-quality items, locally sourced products, donations to community organizations, or experiences that support local businesses instead.

Our Meaningful Events Guide includes additional ideas for reducing waste, sourcing responsibly, and creating events that better reflect your sustainability values.

4. Build Waste Reduction Into Product Development

When new tours, itineraries, events, or experiences are created, waste is rarely part of the conversation.

Look at the traveler journey. Where are single-use items being introduced? Welcome gifts, boxed meals, event materials, amenity kits, beverage service, transportation stops, and packaged snacks can all add up quickly.

Reducing waste often starts long before a traveler arrives. It starts in the decisions made during product design and planning.

For tour operators and advisors, consider asking:

• Are there opportunities to reduce unnecessary packaging throughout the guest experience?

• What waste challenges exist in the destinations we're visiting?

• Are there local practices or expectations we should communicate to travelers before they arrive?

• Are there suppliers actively working to reduce waste that we can support?

For destinations and local partners, consider:

• Sharing guidance on local waste, recycling, and refill infrastructure with trade partners.

• Identifying what responsible visitor behavior looks like in your destination.

• Communicating where visitors can reduce waste safely and realistically.

• Highlighting local businesses and experiences that are helping lead waste reduction efforts.

The goal is not to create the same solution everywhere. It's to work together to identify what makes sense for the destination, the community, and the traveler experience.

5. Choose One Change That Lasts Beyond July

The most effective sustainability efforts aren't campaigns—they're habits.

Instead of trying to tackle everything at once, identify one change your organization can make permanently. Maybe it's eliminating bottled water at meetings, updating event procurement practices, adding sustainability questions to supplier reviews, reducing unnecessary giveaways, or prioritizing partners that are actively addressing waste.

Small changes may not seem revolutionary on their own, but across thousands of businesses, millions of travelers, and destinations around the world, they add up quickly.

Plastic Free July is a useful reminder that reducing waste is about more than replacing a straw or carrying a reusable bottle. It's about looking at the systems, partnerships, and decisions that shape how travel operates—and finding opportunities to make them better for the people and places that make travel possible.

For additional tools, guides, and practical resources, explore the Tourism Cares Sustainability Resources library and identify one action your organization can take this month—and continue long after July ends.