ft101

Only if you waste them. Re-use or re-cycle and your OK.

Kevin AA

How does a small plastic bottle produce a "huge" amount of waste? Does it expand when it gets thrown away?

ft101

Per your quote, OP said "small plastic bottles" (plural). Presumably multiplying by the quantity of them equates to his/her definition of huge amount of waste.

Badenoch

I've noted increasing use of dispensers for body wash, shampoo and conditioners in hotel showers. The dispensers are fine providing they are out of the way. I dislike the little plastic bottles found in hotel rooms and upon arrival they are cleared off and replaced with my own products in reusable containers. This is not a tribute to the environmental gods but a desire to maintain some consistency in aroma. Scent is one of the more underrated yet powerful senses and I prefer not to smell different when travelling due to different soaps and shampoos.

ricktoronto

Other than those flying with carry-on only, how about bring your own shampoo and such and use none at the hotel? Is everyone dependent on hotel toiletries or they are dirty and smell bad?

Those little soaps in all hotels are too small for other than children's hands. Bring a bar of soap too.

OskiBear

I usually take the small bottles to give away to charity (homeless shelters, etc.) but I don't mind the large dispensers. I find that they are actually more functional in the shower (no messing with small, slippery caps that are impossible to open).

However, my biggest pet peeve is when there is no bar of soap for the shower, I simply don't like using shower gel. Hotels that don't provide a bar of soap for the shower might give you a small one for the sink and I bring it back and forth between the shower and the sink. I've taken to trying to remember to always leave a travel bar of soap in my toiletry bag for this reason.

COSPILOT

I have to say that while my wife and I do an incredible job here at home with regard to recycling, cloth bags for the grocery store, etc., I cannot stand the dispenser stuff in Aloft hotels. Since they are the only property that I stay at that does this, I try to remember to bring my own, which typically is something I picked up from another hotel. It's not me being cheap or not caring, it's being practical with weekly travel, and I want to carry the very least amount I can. For a while I would use my own containers, but they simply don't last more than a few trips. Much easier to use whatever the hotel has, except for Aloft.

s0ssos

Not true at all. Most plastics are burned. When you say "recycle" you mean put them in a recycling bin? That basically means nothing. Many waste management companies just throw them away. Some try to ship them to other countries for recycling, and those countries are rejecting the waste.
You are also doing more harm if you throw in unclean goods and "contaminate" the other clean plastics. That means the whole lot gets thrown out. As last I heard, China was refusing most plastics but if it was below a certain amount of contamination they would take it.

Statman

I just bring my own 3oz toiletries which I pre-fill before the trip. They take up minimal space and the weight is negligible.

Problem solved.

s0ssos

And the vast majority of the world's resources is consumed by America, which does not have a majority of the population.
If every Chinese person used the same amount as an American the world would be dead.

So, small things don't matter? Do they build up, perhaps? Maybe like how we are made of atoms?

ysolde

I like the small bottles, too. We take the partly-used ones home and use them up -- at the gym or my husband will use them when he goes hiking. We will then re-fill the empties with our own shower gel, etc. on our next trip -- they are usually perfect in a 311 bag.

My husband doesn't much mind the single dispenser in the shower. I don't like it at all. I find it difficult to get shower gel out of it, perhaps because I am short and have weak hands. I have always just ended up grabbing a mini bottle of shower gel from my 311 bag whenever I have encountered these dispensers.

Low Roller

When I first encountered the dispensers, I thought they looked really cheap and questioned the hygiene. But since there has been more talk lately about the horrors of single use plastics, I'm changing my mind a bit. Most hotel rooms have at least 3 small bottles of product, replaced daily. Las Vegas alone has 150,000 hotel rooms, so that's 450,000 plastic bottles on a busy night. For the sake of argument, let's assume an average of 2/3 occupancy (I have no idea what the real #s are), that's over 100 million single-use bottles a year - in one city. I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination but even I think that sounds really bad for the planet. I don't have a problem with luxury hotels providing small bottles of high-end brands as a customer gift but I think it may be time to cut them out for the vast majority of hotels who offer run-of-the-mill products.

s0ssos

Kimptons don't do bottles. California passed a new law banning them so we'll see how other hotels react.

thebakaronis

This is a very important point. We're being naive to think we earn good karma by putting our junk into recycle bins. Very often our trash is moved to other parts of the world, polluting them even more. Several countries -- including poorer ones -- have already taken steps in the fight against plastics by banning plastic bags. Hopefully other plastic products are not far behind. We'd do well by following their example in North America.

Toshbaf

I disagree.

I like and use these small hotel shampoo bottles. Since I stay at the same places, I have identical bottles. I can balance one upside down into the other so all the shampoo gets emptied in 2-15 minutes.

I looked in my waste. There is far, far more plastic food packaging than one small hotel shampoo bottle in my trash.

No for change. I want my small hotel shampoo bottles. This issue is a made up issue by busybodies who fail to see the real source of plastic waste.