by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 4:20 PM ET, Mon April 29, 2019
A Croatian hotel company and an entire island in the country are the latest to join the campaign against environmentally harmful single-use plastics.
The Maistra hotel group, which operates 10 hotels and eight resorts in Istria on Croatia's northern coast, recently launched a pioneering campaign, according to Forbes. Maistra's Hotel Adriatic has become the first hotel in Croatia to ditch disposable plastics.
"Every human should take responsibility to protect the environment where we live, work and travel. Here in Rovinj, we have hotels right above a beautiful bay, next to a protected forest of centenary trees and on the main town square," Lovorka Struna, Maistra's hotel director told Forbes. "With this long-term initiative, we want to preserve this uniqueness and beauty, since it is ultimately about our shared future."
Back in 2018, Hotel Adriatic began substituting plastic with paper straws. By this June, the hotel will stop using 80 percent of its disposable plastics. This includes toiletries, beverages, bags, containers, and cups.
The ultimate goal is to replace plastic products in all accommodation units, bars and the property's restaurant with biodegradable alternatives by the end of 2019, according to Forbes.
By some estimates, there are more than 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean at large. If business continues as usual, the ocean will contain one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish by 2025, and by 2050, the oceans may have more plastics than fish, by weight.
Straws are just one small part of the plastics problem, which also encompasses cutlery, plates, plastic bags, water bottles and more. Most plastics are not biodegradable and remain in the environment for hundreds of years, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which describes the problem as a global emergency.
Equally concerning, tiny pieces of micro-plastic are eaten by fish or other creatures and then end up in the seafood consumed by humans. It is thought the sea now contains some 51 trillion microplastic particles. Some plastic is toxic and can disrupt hormones crucial for a healthy existence.
With such challenges in mind, the entire Croatian island of Zlarin is also preparing to eliminate single-use plastics.
The island signed a charter last month promising its businesses would cease using such items as plastic bags, plates, cutlery, straws and more.
Located near the city of Sibenik, Zlarin has a population of around 300 people, which grows to over 4,000 during the summer thanks to tourists and those who have holiday homes, according to Croatia Week.
More than 15,000 plastic bags typically find their way into the island's waste stream every summer, with many of them winding up in the sea around Zlarin.
The new initiative 'Zlarin - plastic-free island' won the Adriatic Plastic Challenge competition and aims to replace plastic items with ecologically acceptable alternatives.
Locals are also said to be fully behind the pilot and hope that the idea is embraced by summer visitors.
The plan is to hold several educational workshops during the months leading up to summer to help educate people about the harm plastics cause the environment.
"This is a learning process for all of us involved, requiring change from the traditional way of doing things," environmental activist Ivana Kordic, told Forbes. "What I find most inspiring is how the people of Zlarin embraced being the change themselves."
The goal of the initiative is to make 2019 the first tourist season during which single-use plastic items will be unavailable. After that, the group has set its sights on creating composting infrastructure for the whole island.
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