Holland America recycled coasters hit shops by October

Published on Aug 20, 2025, 2:18 pm CDT

6 min read

Holland America Line is turning shipboard carpet into keepsakes, unveiling a four-piece coaster set made from material removed during recent dry docks. Developed with Danish manufacturer Dansk Wilton, the new souvenir is positioned as a visible proof point for circular design at sea, not just a green talking point. The coasters will be sold in onboard boutiques across the fleet, with an initial run produced from carpet taken off Oosterdam, Eurodam, and Nieuw Amsterdam. The line says the project reflects a broader pursuit of cruise sustainability through real, repeatable solutions.

Key Points

Why it matters: Holland America recycled coasters turn refurbishment waste into retail, advancing cruise sustainability.
Travel impact: A new souvenir category appears fleetwide, aligning onboard retail with eco priorities.
What's next: Wider use of upcycled carpet in signage, notebooks, and other guest items is planned.
12,000 coasters were created from 3,300 pounds of carpet removed during dry docks.
Material uses Dansk Wilton's ReBond process, already adopted for shipboard architectural signage.

Snapshot

Holland America Line is converting carpet removed in dry docks into guest souvenirs, starting with four-piece coaster sets made in partnership with Dansk Wilton. The first production used 3,300 pounds of recovered carpet, yielding 12,000 coasters. The pieces use Dansk Wilton's ReBond material, the same upcycled textile already visible in the brand's architectural signage on board. Distribution will extend to onboard shops across the fleet by late October, giving travelers a practical memento tied directly to the ships they sailed. The initiative sits within a broader push toward circular design, with concepts such as notebooks, postcards, door signs, and art also in development. Holland America positions the line as an early mover linking refurbishment waste to retail products guests can actually buy.

Background

Cruise lines replace vast areas of carpet during periodic dry docks, creating a persistent waste challenge. Dansk Wilton, a long-time supplier to hotels and cruise ships, has been piloting ways to reclaim and rework end-of-life carpet into new substrates. Its ReBond material transforms textile scraps into dense boards suitable for signage and similar applications, while its Re:Shape initiative explores consumer-facing goods. Holland America began collaborating with Dansk Wilton several years ago on recycling pilots, including prototypes for hangers, signage, coasters, and acoustic panels. That work has now progressed into a commercial product guests can purchase. The company underscores that these items are made from carpet removed from specific ships, which strengthens the storytelling value for travelers and aligns onboard retail with measurable reuse. The approach offers a template others could adopt, especially as refits continue to generate large volumes of recoverable textiles.

Latest Developments

Holland America recycled coasters move from pilot to product

On August 20, 2025, Holland America Line formally announced fleetwide retail plans for its recycled coasters program. The initial production converted 3,300 pounds of carpet from dry-dock projects on Oosterdam, Eurodam, and Nieuw Amsterdam into 12,000 coaster pieces, equal to roughly 0.28 pound of material per unit. The coasters are manufactured with Dansk Wilton's ReBond process, the same upcycled substrate the line already uses for architectural signage, which creates a useful through-line guests can see throughout the ship. Beyond coasters, Holland America signaled additional items under evaluation, including notebooks, postcards, door signs, and art made from reclaimed carpet. Company interior design director My Nguyen framed the rollout as a tangible example of circular design on board, connecting the product to a broader sustainability roadmap the brand has been highlighting this year.

Fleetwide rollout slated for October 2025

Retail availability will extend across Holland America's onboard shops by the end of October 2025, turning a niche pilot into a standard souvenir line. Because production uses carpet removed during scheduled maintenance, supply can scale alongside routine refurbishments rather than depending on virgin inputs. The ReBond substrate provides consistent look and durability while preserving the narrative that each item has shipboard origins. For the retail team, the line creates a new price-pointed, small-format product that travels easily in luggage, which should support broad uptake. For sustainability leads, it offers a repeatable pathway to divert textiles from disposal. The company and Dansk Wilton say the initiative is designed to evolve as additional reclaimed materials become available from future dry-dock cycles.

Analysis

Turning refurbishment waste into retail is straightforward in concept, but it requires reliable collection, processing, and consistent quality. Holland America's move stands out because it links all three. Dry docks regularly generate large volumes of carpet offcuts, which are homogeneous enough for scalable processing. Partnering with Dansk Wilton, a first-party supplier with control over both the original material and the recycling method, reduces variability that often undermines reuse projects. The result is a product with a clean provenance story that merchandisers can explain in seconds.

From a sustainability lens, the numbers matter. Converting 3,300 pounds of carpet into 12,000 coasters implies about 0.28 pound of reclaimed material per unit, excluding packaging. While a single coaster is small, the model is replicable, and the brand is already applying the same substrate to shipboard signage. That dual use increases volume potential and helps justify logistics costs. It also positions the line to pilot additional small-goods, such as notebooks and door signs, that can be produced in batches tied to each refit. Guests increasingly expect credible cruise sustainability efforts, and a take-home item that clearly originated on board is easier to verify than abstract offsets or distant projects.

Commercially, the item fills a proven souvenir niche, a low-weight, low-price memento with a strong story. If Holland America shares ship-specific provenance on packaging, it could encourage collection behavior across itineraries. The bigger test is scale, consistency, and whether other categories, such as textiles, glass, or aluminum, can follow a similar path without quality trade-offs.

Final Thoughts

Holland America is translating refurbishment waste into something travelers can use, display, and explain, which is a strong bridge between operations and guest experience. The partnership with Dansk Wilton gives the program technical footing, while the retail rollout turns a pilot into everyday inventory. If subsequent items follow, the line could build a recognizable mini-collection of circular products tied to specific ships and refit cycles. For travelers who want souvenirs with a story, this is an easy win, and it keeps useful material in circulation. Expect interest from peers if Holland America recycled coasters sell through quickly.