Mini toiletries could disappear from hotel rooms

It’s one of the first things we look for after checking into a hotel room. But their days could be numbered.

Those mini bottles of body wash, shampoo and conditioner in hotel rooms are beloved perk of a hotel stay.

But the days of these tiny freebies could soon be over.

More hotels are opting to eliminate the tiny bottles from guests’ bathrooms to cut down on plastic waste and now there is a major push in California to make them illegal.

Members of California’s state assembly are discussing a new law to ban the small bottles of shampoo and other bathroom essentials offered at hotels and resorts across the state.

State assembly member Ash Kalra introduced a bill to ban the complimentary mini bottles in February, according to Fox News.

“We know we have an enormous problem with our world, we’ve become addicted to (plastic) and it’s caused a major dilemma environmentally,” he told ABC News.

The days of these beloved hotel room freebies could soon be over.

The proposed law would go into effect in 2023 in California.

It would effectively ban accommodation providers — including holiday rentals — from providing any “small plastic bottle containing a personal care product”.

Penalties would include a warning, and then a fine of $500 ($A699). However, reusable or refillable bottles would be OK.

Many hotels are already eliminating the complimentary minis from bathrooms, often replacing them with larger, refillable containers fixed to walls so guests can’t take them.

Some major hotel chains have already replaced the mini bottles with large, refillable containers that guests can’t take home with them.

The pump-style dispensers of shampoo, conditioner and body wash have already replaced minis at a range of Intercontinental Hotel Group properties and Marriott hotels across North America.

The fixed dispensers are already a staple in some hotels in Australia and Europe — but the hotel giants may have started a trend that sweeps the rest of the globe.

The hotels opting to eliminate the plastic minis say it was a move to cut down on plastic waste and save money.

Marriott estimated its decision would save an average of 113kg of plastic per year in just one 140-room hotel.

SFGate reported California’s Santa Cruz County approved a similar measure to ban the tiny toiletry bottles in 2018, with hotels in the county encouraged to switch to the larger dispensers by the end of 2020.