The World’s First Plastic Free Cruise Line

Hurtigruten have announced that they will ban all single use plastic across their fleet this summer. This is huge news, everyone is talking about the environmental impact of single use plastics and there are plenty of photographs of the destruction to the oceans but not one is really making changes.

However from the 2nd July 2018 Hurtigruten will ban all single use plastics,  plastic straws, drinks stirrers, plastic tumblers which come in wrapped in yet more plastic, coffee lids and plastic bags will all be replaced on board by metal, glass or alternative materials. They are even going as far as changing the packaging on the little plastic butters and jams etc served at breakfast.

Hurtigruten have decided to take action after witnessing the devastation caused by waste plastic. The company has always been focused on the environment and their employees already spend hours cleaning up the beaches in the areas that they operate but now their goal is to become the World’s first plastic free shipping company.  Over 15 metric tons of plastic ends in the world oceans every minute of the day and this cannot be sustained.

CEO Daniel Skjeldam has said ‘It’s time to take action. By getting rid of single use plastic on board all ships ….we will hopefully get others to follow. It is possible to act now and the ocean does not deserve more hesitation.’

The single-use plastic ban will also be imposed on the hotels, restaurants and other establishments of Hurtigruten’s land based operations on Svalbard, operated by its fully owned subsidiary Hurtigruten Svalbard. They are also challenging all its suppliers to reduce and cut the use of plastic.

Hurtigruten have not yet said if they will imposed a ban on passengers from taking plastics on board, but I would like to think customers will think twice before doing so.

This is a brave and costly move for Hurtigruten and I applaud them for being strong enough to stand up an take it.