Starting from July 1, hotels in Shanghai stopped providing disposable toiletry kits in rooms. However, if guests request, hotels will still provide them for free.
On May 12, Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism proposed a list of disposable toiletries that will not be offered by hotels. The proposal was implemented this month, and the final list contains toothbrush, comb, bath brush, razor, nail file, and shoes brush. Guests are encouraged to use recyclable daily consumables or bring their own home-used toiletries during the stays.
According to Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the list is created with careful investigation, research, and discussion. All the disposable daily consumables in the list are recyclable in daily life and convenient for customers to carry. For example, the list doesn’t include toothpaste and body wash because bring them on planes may cause guests trouble.
This move is closely related to the regulations of garbage sorting and recycling which are just put into force recently. Since these disposable daily consumables are mainly made from plastic, this new measure would help reduce plastic waste in Shanghai. The city also encourages individuals and companies to reduce their use of disposable plastic products.