By Bob Katzen

The Environment and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on legislation that would ban, beginning in January 2027, hotels, motels and boarding houses from providing small plastic-packaged toiletries to guests. Toiletries are defined as a product provided by a hotel “intended to be applied to or used on the human body or any part thereof for cleansing, conditioning or moisturizing including, but not limited to, shampoo, conditioner, lotion and liquid soap.”

“For healthier people and a healthier planet, it’s important that we continue shifting away from using plastic materials,” said sponsor Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy). “Their production and disposal contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, their usage leads to microplastic contamination and they continue to be among the most harmful materials littered through our neighborhoods and our natural resource areas. Because there are logical, less harmful and even more convenient ways to provide shampoos, soaps and the like at hotels, banning the plastic packaging in this one area is an important, incremental step towards a healthier future.”