Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection will eliminate the use of single-use plastics by 2022. 

All plastic straws, water bottles and related single-use plastics have already been removed across the company’s fleet of 11 ships.

The line is now supporting parent company The Travel Corporation in its commitment to become completely single-use plastic free across all operations by 2022.

The announcement comes on the fifth anniversary of Uniworld’s sustainable river cruising guide, written in collaboration with The Travel Foundation and with support from Uniworld’s not-for-profit foundation, TreadRight.

“Five years ago, we set out to lead the industry with recommended best practices from energy and solid waste to water and environmental management systems,” said Uniworld president and CEO, Ellen Bettridge.

“We shared this information with the entire river cruise community because, as they say, a rising tide lifts all the boats and we knew it was imperative to work collectively as we set out to approach this global problem.”

In recent years, Uniworld has reduced plastic waste by 27,374kg and seen a drop of 80 per cent in terms of chemical waste across the fleet.

In addition, the line has reduced paper waste by 110,278kg in the last two years, and recently brought in the One Tree Planted partnership, planting one tree for every e-doc issued to guests. Biodegradable waste has also fallen by 16 per cent.

Bettridge added: “While making significant strides to eliminate waste is so important, we are equally conscientious of the role we play in being responsible guests of the communities we visit.”