Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), which runs 165 hotels across the Taj, Vivanta and Ginger brands, is the latest hotel company to make a commitment to stop using plastic straws at its properties as part of a sustainability push aimed at reducing plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

Earlier this year, the company announced that Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Andamans in the Indian Ocean would become its first “Zero Single Use Plastic Hotel”.

Puneet Chhatwal, IHCL’s managing director and chief executive, said: “We at IHCL have taken a pledge to phase out single-use plastics from all our hotels so that we can play a small but significant role in our endeavour to conserve the environment.

“This decision of eliminating plastic straws is in line with our ethos of weaving in sustainable and responsible practices in business operations.”

Plastic straws are estimated to contribute to more than 4% of the plastic pollution found in the world’s oceans.