The Last Straw: Kata Rocks Bans Plastic Straws in Phuket

Kata Rocks has launched its new sustainability and social impact initiative as it moves to eliminate single-use plastics in the luxury resort starting from 1 July and reach its wider goal within one year.

Guests staying at Kata Rocks are increasingly eco-conscious and are a driving force behind the shift in demand for sustainable travel options. It makes the decision to end the use of plastic straws a natural one, as it is also a major step towards achieving wider sustainability goals that protect natural habitats of many endangered marine species.

Kata Rocks aims to inspire the local community to follow this lead and encourage guests to carry their experiences at the resort back home with them by continuing to reduce their overreliance on plastic bags and straws in their day-to-day lives.

It recently acted to remove all plastic drinking straws from its food and beverage outlets and organised events. Guests will be offered alternatives. Regular plastic straws will be replaced with either plant-based or bamboo straws, or with a local innovation by Plantastic Products (based in Koh Samui) which created a new biodegradable and compostable straw produced from plant starch.

Moving forward the resort is also exploring ways how it can bottle its own water in reusable glass containers, by developing an onsite water filtration and purification facility. The goal is to eliminate waste from single use plastic water bottles, with Kata Rocks offering both still and sparkling water options in fully reusable glass containers.

This comes as Kata Rocks continues to highlight its commitment to Phuket’s environment and ocean conservation, as well as the rescue of imperilled marine animals that are most at risk from plastic.

Plastic straws may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about ocean pollution. Although small and seemingly harmless, Singapore alone uses an estimated 2.2 million plastic straws daily, they cause immense harm to the environment. The issue is critical in Asia, where China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more plastic into oceans than the rest of the world combined, threatening nearly 700 marine species with extinction due to plastic pollution.