Removing mini-shampoos from hotel rooms won’t save the environment

InterContinental Hotels Group will replace mini-shampoos and conditioners with possibly more efficient bulk products by the year 2021. Marriott Hotels recently followed suit, vowing to ban miniature toiletries by next year.

But environmental activists shouldn't rejoice just yet.

These announcements are yet another example - such as banning plastic straws, false sustainability claims and corporate commitments that are far in the future - that seem to be more of a PR exercise than real attempts to move the needle.

I'm a professor of engineering and the director of the MIT Center of Transportation and Logistics. As I argue in my book "Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (And When Not To)," announcements of these kinds distract us from legitimate - and more challenging - measures we need to put in place to avoid environmental catastrophe.

Behind the headlines

InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Keith Barr says that replacing miniature bathroom products "will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact" at the conglomerate's hotel chains, which include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn.

It's true that the British foundation Clear Conscience estimates that 200 million travel-size toiletries end up in U.K. landfills every year, but there's another motivation: With 5,600 hotels, the savings for IHG can mount to over US$11 million annually.

Additionally, studies we have carried out at MIT and elsewhere show that evaluations of a product's environmental impact can mislead if economists don't consider the entire supply chain management process.

For example, most of the carbon footprint of companies like Apple, Microsoft and Ciscocomes from the suppliers who actually make the iPhones, routers and Xboxes, not directly from the company itself.