In recent years we’ve seen a trend whereby many hotels have transitioned from single-use toiletries to reusable ones. For example, most of the major global groups now have policies requiring properties to only offer guests reusable toiletries. Officially this is being done as an environmental initiative, though of course there’s also an element of cost savings associated with it.
Well, we’re about to see even more hotels in New York with reusable toiletries, as the state will shortly be implementing a new law banning certain types of hotel toiletries.
New York requiring reusable hotel toiletries as of 2025
New York state will be banning hotels from offering guests individually sized “hospitality personal care products,” and will instead require them to offer these products in reusable containers. This enforcement comes as a bill was just passed in the New York Assembly, intended to reduce waste.
As of January 1, 2025, this new rule will apply to hotels with more than 50 rooms, and then as of January 1, 2026, it will apply to all hotels. With this, hotels won’t be allowed to provide toiletry bottles of under 12 ounces. In this case, a “hospitality personal care product” is defined as a “product provided by a hotel and intended to be applied to or used on the human body or any part thereof for cleansing.”
Once this law is implemented, hotels will first be given a warning if they’re found to be in violation of the rules, and they’ll have 30 days to correct the violation. If they fail to do so, they’ll be liable to the state for a civil penalty of $250. A $500 fine will then follow if the hotel still doesn’t update its policies within the next 30 days.
Discussions have been going on in New York about this for a long time, going back all the way to 2019. Initially this was supposed to be implemented as of early 2023, but the timeline ended up being pushed back, so that hotels could use their existing supply of toiletries, and prepare to stock new reusable ones.
New York is the second state to have such a policy, as California has implemented a similar law already.
This should have fairly limited implications
In general, the implications of this new law in New York won’t be huge. A vast majority of the major hotel groups have implemented policies in recent years whereby they’ve moved from single-use toiletries to reusable ones. Even many independent properties have made the switch.
If you’re someone who enjoys swiping toiletries from the hotels you stay at, then I totally get how you’re probably not happy about this change. Taking home toiletries is something that many people associate with staying at a hotel, and I get that.
While I absolutely think cost savings has been the primary reason that major hotel groups have switched to reusable toiletries, there’s also no denying that it’s better for the environment as well, so there’s no reason that both can’t be true.
As long as the bulk toiletries are properly maintained, cleaned, and filled, I have absolutely no issues with them. Of course I recognize that’s sort of a big caveat, given that many hotels don’t do a good job with maintaining them.
Bottom line
New York state will soon be implementing a new law banning individual hotel toiletries. This will apply to hotels with more than 50 rooms as of 2025, and then will apply to all hotels as of 2026. New York is the second state to introduce such a law, after California.
The implications of this aren’t as big as they would have been in the past, given that most major hotel groups have banned single-use toiletries anyway.
What do you make of New York’s new individual hotel toiletry ban?
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