Hotels in Shanghai, China will have to stop placing certain disposable items in guest rooms beginning July 1st 2019 as per the directive of the local authorities.
Hotels will therefore no longer automatically supply any bath sponges, combs, shaving kits, shoe brushes, toothbrushes or nail files – items can be made available upon request however.
Usually full service hotels (especially in the 4-5 Star range) provide a full range of bathroom amenities but more and more properties lay out less of these products nowadays. Hotels in Asia, however, are generally well equipped in the amenity section of things and you can find all sorts of items in the room.
Instead of having the items readily available in the bathroom some (not all) hotels even outside Shanghai already provide a list or simple notice to contact the guest services hotline when specific products are needed.
The matter was initially published by That’s Shanghai (access here) following a release of the ordinance by the Shanghai Municipal Administration on May 10th 2019.
… From July 1 onwards, hotels in Shanghai will stop supplying disposable items such as toothbrushes, combs and shavers, according to China Daily.
According to a list released by the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, six items will no longer be provided by hotels in Shanghai:
- Toothbrushes
- Combs
- Bath wipes
- Razors
- Nail files
- Shoe wipes
The move is said to be a measure to reduce the amount of waste produced in hotels around the city. As pointed out in an article by Huaxiazi FM, a Shanghai radio station, items like toothpaste, soap, bath liquid and slippers are not specified in the list of prohibited products. Speaking to a reporter from the radio station, director of the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Gu Jianbin, said that these items would not be prohibited because of the restriction on airline passengers who are unable to transport over 100 milliliters in liquids.
Hotels that fail to comply with the ordinance may be fined up to RMB5,000 (I presume per case). The fine will not apply if hotels offer these amenities for free at the request of guests such as per forms as I posted above, where passengers can call guest services and have certain items delivered.
Conclusion
I’m generally supportive of this measure as guests often grab everything that isn’t nailed down and stuff it in their pockets regardless if needed or not.
There is a clear environmental aspect of wasting too many of these things without reason and this limits guests to only order items when they really need them. I just hate if I quickly need something and have to call down to order it and then get dressed in a way that allows me to accept the items from the staff.
I tend to use proper quality razors (Schick brand etc) and nail files frequently from the amenity box. Sometimes also a toothbrush if my electric one suddenly runs out of batteries.
