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For travellers looking for sustainable hotels in London, Stow Away Waterloo stands out as one of the city's most genuinely eco-conscious options — built from repurposed shipping containers, powered entirely by 100% renewable electricity, and committed to reducing waste at every level. As both a sustainable hotel and one of the best long-stay hotels in London, Stow Away Waterloo offers extended-stay guests stylish, self-contained studio apartments with all the comforts of home, located moments from Waterloo Station and the South Bank. Whether you're searching for an extended stay hotel in London, a hotel near Waterloo, or simply want to travel with a lighter footprint, Stow Away offers a rare combination of comfort, location, and genuine environmental responsibility — with the bonus of Unwined Waterloo, the on-site wine bar, right on your doorstep.
Sustainability in hospitality is no longer just a nice-to-have — it's becoming a deciding factor for travellers choosing where to stay. But for many hotels, "going green" means little more than asking guests to reuse their towels. At Stow Away Waterloo, things are done very differently.
This independently owned aparthotel in Waterloo has made environmental responsibility central to everything it does — from the way the building was constructed, to how it's powered, right down to what's in your bathroom. Here's a closer look at why Stow Away is one of London's most genuinely sustainable hotels.
The most striking thing about Stow Away is the building itself. Rather than constructing a new hotel from scratch, the team behind Stow Away Waterloo chose to repurpose 26 disused shipping containers to create the entire structure.
This single decision had a significant environmental impact. Repurposing steel shipping containers dramatically reduces the demand for new raw materials and diverts industrial waste from landfills. It's a concept that sits at the heart of circular economy thinking.
According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the built environment accounts for around 50% of all extracted materials globally, making decisions like this genuinely meaningful.
The result is a building that makes an architectural statement on the South Bank, while treading far more lightly on the planet than a conventional hotel build would.
Stow Away Waterloo is powered entirely by renewable electricity, supplied through Ecotricity, one of the UK's leading green energy providers. This means that every light left on, every phone charged, every shower taken — it's all running on clean power.
Solar panels on the roof generate electricity on-site, with any surplus fed back into the national grid. The Samsung air conditioning and hydro units use a heat recovery system that recycles excess air conditioning heat back into the hot water supply, reducing energy consumption and cutting waste.
All lighting throughout the hotel is LED, which uses up to 90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. These might seem like small details, but across an entire building and hundreds of guest stays, they add up.
One of the most visible changes sustainable hotels can make is eliminating single-use plastics, and Stow Away takes this seriously. There are no miniature plastic toiletry bottles here. Instead, every room has large, refillable bottles of shampoo and shower gel — a simple swap that eliminates significant amounts of plastic waste over time.
The hotel continues to actively work towards removing all single-use plastics from its operation entirely. The UK Government's own research has highlighted the scale of single-use plastic pollution, and hotels are a significant contributor — making Stow Away's approach genuinely responsible.
Waste recycling is built into the guest experience at Stow Away Waterloo. Recycling bins are placed in every room, making it easy for guests to separate their waste with minimal effort. The hotel's waste — including that from Unwined Waterloo, the on-site restaurant and wine bar — is managed through First Mile, a company widely recognised as a leader in commercial recycling.
For long-stay hotel guests, towels and linen are washed every 7 days rather than daily — unless a guest requests otherwise. This isn't just about cutting water use; it also reduces detergent waste and extends the life of linens. The hotel also avoids offering minibars, eliminating the miniature packaging and food waste that typically comes with them.
One of the most feel-good aspects of Stow Away's sustainability commitment is its partnership with Trees for Cities, a UK charity dedicated to planting urban trees and creating greener cities. For every direct booking made through the Stow Away website, a tree is planted in the UK.
Since 1993, Trees for Cities has planted over one million trees in parks, streets, schools, hospitals and housing estates. It's a small but meaningful act that connects each guest's stay to a tangible, lasting environmental benefit.
Sustainability isn't just about what happens inside a building — it's also about encouraging guests to engage with their surroundings responsibly. Stow Away Waterloo actively encourages guests to explore and support local businesses: restaurants, cafes, markets and independent shops in the South Bank area.
The hotel's location also makes low-carbon travel easy. Waterloo station is moments away, putting the whole of London within easy reach by tube, rail, or the Elizabeth line. TfL hire bikes are available directly outside the building for guests who want to explore under their own steam.
For an extended-stay hotel in London, this is the kind of location that makes it genuinely easy to live sustainably — without sacrificing comfort or convenience.
No stay at Stow Away would be complete without mentioning Unwined Waterloo, the resident wine bar located on the ground floor. With an eclectic and unusual selection of wines from around the world and guest chefs preparing seasonal dishes, Unwined is a destination in its own right.
Having a quality restaurant and bar on-site reduces the need for guests to travel for food and drink — a small but genuine sustainability benefit — and makes Stow Away one of the most enjoyable London extended-stay options on the market.
Sustainability in hotels doesn't have to mean compromise. Stow Away Waterloo proves that you can have beautifully designed rooms, a brilliant location on the South Bank, a standout on-site wine bar in Unwined, and a genuine, demonstrable commitment to the environment — all in one place.
Whether you're planning an extended stay in London for work, looking for long stay hotels that don't sacrifice style, or simply want to know your accommodation choices aren't costing the planet, Stow Away Waterloo — or Stowaway Waterloo, as many guests search for it — is one of the most compelling answers London has to offer.
Book direct at Stow Away Waterloo, and a tree gets planted too. It's a small thing — but that's rather the point.