Alongside its parent company, The Travel Corporation (TTC), Trafalgar has announced the removal of single-use plastic (SUP) water bottles from its coaches from 2019 as part of its commitment to being SUP-free on their trips by 2022.
Powered by TreadRight, the not-for-profit foundation created more than a decade ago by TTC, JoinTrafalgar shares TreadRight’s mission to make travel matter. Pioneering the fight for a sustainable future for 10 years through their JoinTrafalgar program, Trafalgar’s mission falls under three simple pillars; have a positive impact to people, places and wildlife and to care for the planet with the announcement today being another way the brand continues to build on their commitments to the wellbeing of the planet.
With a holistic approach to making a difference, the move joins other single-use plastic removal from Trafalgar’s existing operations practices, from using reusable, durable luggage and name tags from recycled materials, guest tote bags made from recycled materials and also the banning of single use plastics within the brands offices around the globe. It is estimated that this latest initiative estimates that this will eliminate over 5 tons of plastic waste in the next five years.
“Our passionate, caring global team is unified in its total commitment to our mission to make travel matter. This means changing a number of ways we’ve operated in the past. This announcement marks an important next step in fulfilling our pledge to eliminate all non-essential single-use plastics across our all our operations by 2022,” says Brett Tollman, Chief Executive, TTC and founder of The TreadRight Foundation. “We are working with our partners on the ground to make sure guests still have access to clean drinking water and will be identifying convenient points along the way they can safely and responsibly source drinking water” he said.
In addition, as part of this holistic approach to Earth Month, through an awareness campaign about easy tips for agents to join the brand and make travel matter alongside a number of the brands sustainability partners, the brand has also released the Agents Guide to Making a Difference. This easy-to-follow guide is full of simple tips and small changes travel advisors and other customer-facing members of the industry can make that can have a big impact. By educating on the fundamentals of sustainable tourism, it aims to empower them to act as ambassadors of responsible travel to their customers and join them in making travel matter.
The importance of the decision and what it means for the industry was today echoed by Trafalgar’s CEO Gavin Tollman “The war on plastic is essential and needs to happen now” he said. “The travel industry has a responsibility to do their part, consider the impact of SUP and what we can collectively do as an industry to make a difference” he concluded.
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