G Adventures will provide refillable water bottles for all its travellers to the Galapagos Islands on sea- and land-based trips departing from 1 January 2019.

The move comes after the Galapagos Council decided to ban non-returnable bottles of any description from 26 February 2019 onwards.

This follows a ban on plastic straws that came into effect on 26 May, and plastic bags, which are banned from July 26.

Brian Young, managing director for EMEA, G Adventures, said: “As a responsible tour operator, we have more responsibility to protect our planet than ever before.

“At G Adventures, we already encourage all travellers to bring reusable water bottles with them on their trip, and are fortunate that with our office in Quito, it is logistically feasible to provide reusable water bottles to our travellers departing to the Galapagos.

“All our boats in the Galapagos are fitted with filtered water in refillable tanks, and hotels supplying accommodation for our land-based travellers will also offer this service. The Galapagos is one of the most eco-friendly destinations we travel to, and we’re very happy to support them in their continued mission to keep their waters clean.”

G Adventures also has other initiatives onboard its vessels as part of the Ocean Health Fund programme, which involves G Adventures’ non-profit partner, Planeterra. These include providing filtered water onboard the G Expedition ship, beach cleans, and the removal of plastic straws from vessels, among others.

G Adventures offers more than 30 different itineraries in the Galapagos Islands, with travellers choosing to either travel on one of the company’s four boats, or to move between the islands by speedboat and stay on land.