Giving Compass' Take:
- CJ O'Brien Weddle discusses how the Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Hotels Program has saved millions of single-use plastics in its first year.
- How can donors and funders support the growth of programs reducing single-use plastic pollution?
- Learn more about key climate justice issues and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on climate justice in your area.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
September 10th marks one year since Surfrider launched the Ocean Friendly Hotels Program, an expansion of Surfrider's nationally-recognized Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program. The Ocean Friendly Hotels Program celebrates lodging establishments that are going above and beyond to reduce their use of unnecessary single-use plastic and make more sustainable choices for the ocean.
The larger we grow our network of Ocean Friendly business leaders, the more mainstream the concept of single-use plastic-free becomes.
Program Impact
Since launching one year ago, we have:
- 30 hotels participating in the program
- 7 states including Alaska, New York, California, Washington, Florida, Oregon, Hawai'i, and even the U.S. Virgin Islands have participating hotels
- 1.2 million plastic bottles are saved from hotels annually
- 1.8 million mini plastic toiletry bottles are saved from hotels annually
Meet Our Hotels
Our Ocean Friendly Hotels represent a wide range of lodging establishments, including resorts, boutique hotels, luxury hotels, bed and breakfasts, a lodge, and a campground!
What Makes a Hotel Ocean Friendly?
Each participating hotel must follow a set guidelines that focuses on single-use plastic reduction, water conservation, energy efficiency, reducing light pollution, and more. The result of this program is a community of hotels our chapters can promote, support, and lift up as successful examples to influence greater adoption of ocean-friendly business practices and even more single-use plastic reduction legislation.
Supporting Plastic Reduction Policy
Chapters in Hawai'i campaigned to pass HB348 and SB670 which would've phased-out mini personal care plastic packaging (shampoos, conditions, lotions, and soaps) at hotels and other lodging establishments. Instead, hotels would have to install bulk dispensers or use non-plastic packaging for their personal care products. Surfrider Hawai'i pointed to the Ocean Friendly Hotels Program in their testimony as this bill directly aligns with the program criteria. This bill did not pass, but we plan to continue working on it.
Read the full article about the Ocean Friendly Hotels Program by CJ O'Brien Weddle at Surfrider Foundation.