Between 2019 and the end of 2022, Six Senses cut its remaining plastic consumption by 68%, and in 2022 alone its on-site water bottling avoided 1,760,787 plastic bottles. The chain eliminated plastic straws in 2016 — replacing them with paper, bamboo and lemongrass — and has published a year-by-year elimination timeline with item-level counts: 29,497 packaging items removed through its supplier take-back programme, 234,428 plastic stickers per year, 33,215 coffee pods. Unlike most sustainability claims, every number below comes from the company’s own published programme pages and 2022 sustainability report coverage — which is exactly what makes this case citable.
The documented timeline
| Year | Action | Measured result (as published) |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Refillable ceramic dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in guest rooms | Baseline practice, predating the industry trend by two decades |
| 2003 | On-site drinking-water filtration and reusable glass bottling at every resort | ~1.8 million fewer plastic bottles in circulation every year; 1,760,787 avoided in 2022 |
| 2016 | Plastic straws eliminated — replaced with paper, bamboo or lemongrass | Straw-free across the portfolio before most regulators acted |
| 2019 | Resort-wide plastic inventory + Supplier Take Back and Return Program | 29,497 unnecessary plastic packaging items eliminated |
| 2020 | All bathroom amenities switched to plastic-free packaging | Toothpaste kits, hair essentials and more converted |
| 2021 | All plastic stickers eliminated | ~234,428 items removed from annual circulation |
| 2022 | All plastic coffee sachets removed | ~33,215 pods diverted from landfill |
| 2019 → 2022 | Targeted elimination of single-use and virgin plastic | 68% reduction in remaining plastic consumption; plastic-free solutions identified for 80+ common hotel items |
What made the numbers move: four methods, one inventory
After the 2019 resort-wide inventory, the company organised the remaining plastic into four attack methods: circularity through supplier engagement (the take-back programme), zero waste through better operational practices, reduction of unnecessary items, and switching to natural materials wherever possible. Note the order — material substitution is last, not first. The biggest single number in the case (1.76 million bottles) came from changing the format of water service, not from swapping one disposable material for another.
For suppliers, the bamboo-relevant signal is in the 2016 straw decision: bamboo was named alongside paper and lemongrass as an accepted replacement at one of the strictest sustainability standards in luxury hospitality. That matters when a buyer asks whether bamboo straws are a serious food-service option — see our guide to bulk-buying questions for bamboo straws.
The transferable playbook for independent hotels and pousadas
A ~20-resort luxury portfolio is not an 18-room pousada, but the sequence is copyable and each step produces a number you can publish:
- Inventory everything plastic — Six Senses’ 2019 audit is the model. One week of walking your property with a clipboard produces the list that drives the next three years.
- Attack formats before materials — dispensers and refillables (the 1995 and 2003 moves) deliver the largest, most durable savings.
- Fix the boring items — stickers, sachets and egg packaging made the 2021–2022 numbers. Small items count when you report them.
- Switch to certified natural materials for what must remain disposable — and keep the supplier documentation on file (see when an FSC certificate is worth asking for).
- Publish the counts annually — the 68% figure is citable precisely because it is itemised and dated.
For the product specification side of an amenity rollout, our bamboo amenity sets guide covers what survives housekeeping; the Accor case study (46 items, 84% of hotels) is the large-group counterpart to this one.
Limitations of this case — read before citing it
- Self-reported data. All figures come from Six Senses’ own programme pages and 2022 sustainability report coverage. We have not independently audited them.
- Portfolio scale is small. Around two dozen luxury resorts. Percentage reductions at this scale are impressive but not directly comparable to large-group numbers like Accor’s.
- Data vintage. The timeline was published in July 2023 and covers through end-2022. Later figures may differ.
- “Remaining plastic” is the denominator. The 68% applies to plastic left after the early-format changes — it is not a 68% cut from a 2019 baseline total.
FAQ
What did Six Senses replace plastic straws with?
Paper, bamboo and lemongrass — bamboo named explicitly as an accepted replacement, per the company’s published timeline from 2016.
How much plastic did Six Senses actually eliminate?
Published item-level counts include ~1.8 million plastic bottles avoided per year through on-site glass bottling, 29,497 packaging items via supplier take-back, 234,428 stickers per year and 33,215 coffee pods. The headline figure is a 68% reduction in remaining plastic consumption between 2019 and end-2022.
Can a small hotel copy this without a sustainability team?
The sequence transfers: one-week inventory, format changes first (dispensers, refillables), boring items next, certified natural materials last — and publish what you count.
Is bamboo accepted as a plastic-free hotel material?
Yes at the strictest procurement levels — both Six Senses (straw replacement) and Accor (named in its ~50-item plastic-free range) publicly list bamboo, with certification requirements on top. Ask suppliers for certificate scope documents, not packaging claims.
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Sources
- Six Senses, Plastic Free Month: our plastic journey and Plastic Free 2022 results — full timeline, 68% reduction 2019→2022, item-level counts. sixsenses.com
- Six Senses, Farm to Fork sustainability story — 1.7 million bottles eliminated in 2022 via on-site bottling. sixsenses.com
- The Ethos, Six Senses Resorts Made “the Greatest Measurable Impact,” Says Its 2022 Sustainability Report — 2022 report coverage, single-use plastic phase-out, 1.7M bottles. the-ethos.co