This guidance, developed within the framework of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, focuses on the procurement of plastic items and packaging (and its alternatives) in the tourism sector and aims to provide practical support for procurement practitioners within the range and global reach of tourism businesses that need to address the impact of single-use plastics and packaging within broader sustainable procurement practice.
It draws from existing sustainable procurement good practices that, when implemented systematically throughout the whole procurement cycle, will help increase the circularity in the use of plastics. It also provides practical support in identifying the potential for eliminating plastic packaging and plastic items where possible (as well as introducing reuse models as alternatives to single-use items and packaging), in addition to reducing the consumption of plastics where avoidance is not possible (including measures for purchasing recyclable and compostable plastics and plastics with recycled content).
The guidance follows the procurement stages from pre-tender actions around planning procurement approaches including the consideration of elimination, reduction in consumption and adoption of reuse models within the operation of the tourism business. It includes practical examples for tendering, including actions relating to supplier engagement and setting tender specifications.