Gaming operators such as Sands China and MGM have pulled the last straw as part of their effort to reduce their plastic footprint.
MGM announced last September that it had started phasing out single-use plastic straws at its restaurants in the previous month and would stop altogether using single-use plastics such as straws, cups, take-away containers and cutlery this year.
Sands China said in a statement earlier this week that it has “discontinued” its use of plastic straws at all its properties since Tuesday.
According to Sands China’s statement, the move would eliminate the use of 2.2 million plastic straws each year.
In addition, the statement said the company was planning to replace hotel rooms’ single-use bathroom amenities – such as shampoo and conditioner bottles – with refillable dispensers. According to Sands China, this would eliminate around 2.7 million plastic bottles per year.
The statement also said that the company was installing filtered water dispensers in parts of its properties’ public areas on a trial basis to reduce the use of bottled water.
Meanwhile, Melco Resorts & Entertainment said in a statement on Wednesday that it was installing over 18,000 solar photovoltaic panels covering about 30,000 square metres of rooftop space at its City of Dreams and Studio City resorts.
Melco’s statement said that once the system was fully operational, it could generate nearly 7.7 million kWh of energy per year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1,500 average households over a period of 12 months.
According to Melco, this means that the system could reduce CO2 emissions by more than 6,000 tonnes every year.
However, Melco’s statement didn’t say when it would start using the system.
