Why I’m calling for an entirely single use plastic free hospitality industry globally by 1st January 2025 — Photo by Created by HN with DALL·E

The hospitality industry could be one of the most beautiful and united working environments on the planet. So why, in 2024, are we seeing such global discrepancy across international tourism efforts to become single use plastic free? Tourists are the single biggest culprit of single-use-plastic waste and it is down to the hotels to motivate each other to take immediate action.

In April 2024, when I spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, I highlighted that, whilst I alone cannot change the world, I can at least change my world in a bid to inspire other hospitality leaders to follow suit. At the Plastic Smart City seminar with WWF United Nations a month later, I asked my hospitality peers: “If Jaya House, one of the smallest hotels in Cambodia, can save ½ million pieces of single-use-plastic from landfill, can you imagine what the entire hospitality industry could do if we worked together?”. Some brands suggest that their journey towards B-Corp status is a promising beginning, but a certification on the door is simply not enough.

Let’s take Cambodia as a case study – tourists to my home country use 4.6 million plastic water bottles a month, and with 443km of ocean coast, Cambodia is one of the world’s biggest victims of plastic waste ocean pollution. In 2016, I formed the Refill Not Landfill campaign to reduce single-use plastic drinking bottles and other single-use plastic waste ending up in our oceans. The scheme proved so successful that it has expanded into 19 countries and destinations, including Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar and New Zealand. We provide tourists with a reusable bottle, each with a QR code that guides guests to the closest refill station using a digital map. On average this saves three plastic water bottles from being thrown away per guest per day, and guests are encouraged to use the bottle back at home. Since the campaign debuted, Jaya House alone has saved 500,000 plastic bottles from ending up in mountainous landfills, roadsides waterways and oceans, and millions of tourists have been educated on how to travel more sustainably.

The same year the Refill Not Landfill initiative started, I realised my next vision – to create Cambodia’s first single use plastic free hotel. Jaya House River Park opened in Siem Reap in December 2016. Beyond eliminating plastic drinking bottles, all bathroom products are from the Jaya Organics range, stored in glass containers and made on site. We use only paper or linen bags, and in the kitchen we replace delivery and storage boxes with non-plastic alternatives, implementing strict cleaning protocols to ensure health safety standards are met. We only work with plastic free suppliers, and even our outgoing deliveries are sent in recycled packaging. But my ambition was far deeper than a plastic free effort, which should be a pre-requisite in all hospitality concepts today. I knew that Jaya House needed to employ 100% local, full-time staff, provide them with quality hospitality education and healthcare, and I allowed myself zero marketing budget, focusing on a word-of-mouth-only growth model, so that I could funnel all profits back into the community.

There are countless local initiatives that need support in Cambodia. I had been introduced to one of my personal heroes, Tania Palmer, in 2011, who founded the Green Gecko Centre for Street Children. That year, Cambodia had experienced unprecedented rainfall – a byproduct of changing climates – leaving a large proportion of the country underwater, and thousands of citizens without food or water. Supporting the Green Gecko Centre has always been a priority for Jaya House. Tania was instrumental in my personal journey, as well as some other key heroic individuals such as Bill & Jill Morse of the Cambodian Landmine Museum. Jaya House also gives monthly donations to The Small Art School (SAS), a self-financed school that provides art education to its talented students from local communities – their artwork is proudly displayed throughout the hotel. The hotel was designed using only local Khmer architects and materials to develop the main structures and surrounding gardens. Channelling 1960’s Cambodian Modernism, Khmer art-deco sculptures are seamlessly blended into the property’s interiors and 36 guest rooms, with sustainable wood and stone featured throughout.

Moreover, since opening in 2016, we have planted more than 2,000 trees, native to Cambodia, in public spaces around Siem Reap, to spread awareness about climate change and improve the beauty of the area.

The conventional hotel model might render the Jaya House operational formula inviable – with concerns that the numbers wouldn’t add up or the guest experience would suffer. But, I have proven that a few simple changes can make a monumental, long term difference beyond just marketing gimmicks. We are not sacrificing on luxury; we are simply finding sustainable alternatives that benefit both the planet and the local communities. Key aspects that keep guests returning include complimentary airport transfers and tuktuk rides around Siem Reap, two complimentary massages per room per day, and a team of local staff who have been trained in-house, and provide unique and organic insight into the surrounding communities. Jaya House is the busiest hotel in Siem Reap and has held the top spot of #1 Hotel in Cambodia for 6 years running and #18 Best Hotel in the World on TripAdvisor, so we must be doing something right.

We are currently undergoing an extension project which will see an addition of four new suites using this same local labour and materials model. The primary motivation for this was driven by a neighbouring plot of land coming onto the market, and our concerns over preserving the beautiful environment we’ve worked so hard to protect. Identifying an opportunity to create something beautiful, and provide jobs for the local workers, we bought it and expect construction to be complete in September 2024.

We have an exciting future ahead at Jaya House and are inspired to be part of the change that we want to see in Siem Reap over the next decade. If we can do it, why can’t others?