Global Tourism Plastics Initiative

LifeXperiences has today become a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, led by the United Nations Environment Programme and World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enables businesses and governments to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards a circularity in the use of plastics.

As a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, LifeXperiences commits to eliminate, innovate and circulate its use of plastics and be a leader of change to tackle plastic pollution on the Balearic Islands.

Developed within the framework of the Sustainable Tourism Programme of the One Planet network, a multi-stakeholder partnership to implement SDG 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative acts as the tourism sector interface of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which unites more than 450 businesses, governments, and other organisations behind a common vision and targets to address plastic waste and pollution at its source. As such, the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative will implement the New Plastics Economy vision, framework and definitions to mobilise the global tourism industry towards concerted significant action against plastic pollution.

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative aims to stop plastic ending up as pollution while also reducing the amount of new plastic that needs to be produced. To realise this vision, tourism companies and destinations commit to eliminate the plastic items they don’t need; innovate so all plastics they do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything they use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment. This is fully in line with LifeXperiences’ values and own set of commitments within their responsible travel policy.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organisations to make a set of concrete and actionable commitments by 2025: 

• Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items 
• Take action to move from single-use to reuse models or reusable alternatives
• Engage the value chain to move towards 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable
• Take action to increase the amount of recycled content across all plastic packaging and items used 
• Commit to collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics 
• Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets. 

Transitioning to circularity in the use of plastics, allows the tourism sector to make positive contributions like reducing landfill, pollution, natural resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions and creating sustainable livelihoods and long-term community prosperity in harmony with nature, within others.

By taking serious action on plastic pollution in a coordinated and determined, the tourism sector can help preserve and protect the places and wildlife that make destinations worth visiting.