Do you like to scoop up those extra bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and body wash when you leave your hotel? Those days are now gone in New York. Hotels with more than 50 rooms will be prohibited from providing toiletry bottles under 12 ounces.
New York will ban small bottles of toiletries in hotels beginning in 2025. The Empire State changed its Environmental Conservation Law (S543/A5082) to ban single-use plastics to reduce waste.
While the rollout begins in large hotels, by 2026 every hotel in the state will have to move to larger multi-use pump bottles in their hotel rooms. The prohibition on these single-use plastic bottles was set to begin in 2023, but the hotel lobby pushed for a delay to use the supply they already had in stock.
Opponents of single-use plastics point out that approximately 33 billion pounds of plastic go into the oceans every year. That's roughly equivalent to dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the oceans every minute. According to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) website, enforcement of the law hopes to reduce waste across the state and country.
Mark Dorr, president of the New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association, says his group supports the incoming ban. He adds that roughly 75% of hotels have already implemented reusable bottles. Other than not being able to scoop up the little bottles to take home, hotel customers will not experience any difference in their stays.
Hotels found to break the new law will receive a 30-day warning to correct the violation. If they do not make the correction, hotels will receive a fine of $250. The legislation levies a fine of $500 if the hotel still fails to correct the violation after 30 more days.
"On the national level, there's also a movement to address single-use plastics. And there's legislation that's been introduced to Congress called the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act that includes dealing with small hotel toiletry bottles too," said Christy Leavitt, the plastics campaign director at Oceana, an ocean conservation nonprofit. California and Washington have enacted similar bans on tiny toiletry bottles in hotels
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation suggests that hotels with an inventory of small bottles after the ban takes effect donate them to charitable organizations or partner with organizations that recycle hotel soap and hotel amenities such as Clean the World; Rock and Wrap It Up!