Starbucks Will Eliminate Plastic Straws By 2020
Starbucks have pledged to eliminate plastic straws from their coffee shops around the world by 2020. The coffee shop announced yesterday that they are planning to introduce recyclable strawless lids and straws made from either paper or compostable plastic in all of their 28,000 stores.
This move will eliminate more than 1 billion plastic straws each year – hopefully cutting a chunk out of the 500 million plastic straws used by Americans every day. Starbucks joins a list of companies across America making similar pledges, such as Alaska Airlines, Hilton Hotel and AccorHotels, as well as the Royal Caribbean and Cunard cruise lines. McDonald’s also recently announced that it will begin testing alternatives to plastic straws in certain outlets in the United States this year.
Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks, released a statement saying;
“For our partners and customers, this is a significant milestone to achieve our global aspiration of sustainable coffee, served to our customers in more sustainable ways.“
Starbucks’ strawless lids will be used on both hoot and cold beverages, including tea, espressos and iced coffee. These strawless lids are currently available in more than 8,000 stores across the United States and Canada, and will become the standard in stores around the world in the near future. New straws will be produced from paper or compostable plastic, and will be available upon request or for beverages such as frappuchinos.
