New York City Small Bottle Ban Will Halt Hotels From Supplying Guests With Personal Care Products

New York City guests will no longer receive personal care products like shampoo and lotion during their stays thanks to a small bottle ban set to go into effect January 2025.

A new small bottle ban will prevent New York City hotels from supplying guests with shampoo and lotion.

Thanks to a new state law set to go into effect in January 2025, hotels in New York City with 50 or more guests will no longer be required to supply guests with small bottles of personal care products like shampoo and lotion. The move is an effort to reduce waste.

Per the bill, a “hospitality personal care product” refers to materials provided by the hotel intended to be used on a human’s body. It includes, but is not limited to, “shampoo, conditioner, lotion, as well as liquid soap.” In this case, a small bottle is no larger than 12 ounces.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons for it on the environmental side,” said the President of the Niagra Falls Hotel and Motel Association, Frank Strangio. “It’s a lot of bottles that get thrown into the garbage, and they do pile up.”

As the owner of two hotels in the city’s south end, Strangio says that he and other hotel owners have already started to implement dispensers installed in the guest rooms to prevent excessive waste when it comes to the distribution of small bottles. While he admits that the installation of the dispensers was costly, it will save them money in the long run.

“The thing that happens with the small bottles is that in hotel rooms, they get used once, and they’re about half full,” Strangio explained. “There’s a lot of wasted product when you are using the smaller bottles.”

Although one would might think that companies would have been able to refill small bottles to be reused by future hotel guests, Strangio says this is not the case. Instead, he says this is avoided to ensure peace of mind that their products have not been tampered with.

“You want them to be properly sealed so that guests know that what they are using is the product that is supposed to be in there,” he said. Strangio also confirmed that the current dispensers in place in the guest rooms have locks to prevent product tampering. He also noted that the process not only saves the environment but makes cleaning the rooms for housekeeping attendants a much more seamless process.

“Even for the housekeeping staff, it’s one less things you have to replenish on a daily basis, especially during the busy season. So I think in that way there’s all kinds of efficiencies as well,” said Strangio.

By 2026, all hotels operating in New York will be required to adhere to the small bottle ban.