As of September 2018, plastic straws will be replaced by biodegradable paper alternatives in all McDonald’s U.K. and Ireland restaurants.
The fast food company says the decision follows a successful trial in a number of its U.K. restaurants to test how customers react to the paper straws. In the U.K. alone, the restaurant chain uses roughly 1.8 million straws a day.
Transcend Packaging in Wales, and Huhtamaki in Belfast, will supply the paper straws for the 1,361 McDonald’s restaurants.
McDonald’s is not the only company that has opted out of using plastic straws, other major restaurants, coffee shops and pubs are deciding to make a sustainable change. JD Wetherspoon pubs eliminated all plastic straws at the beginning of this year, and only provides a biodegradable replacement when specifically requested by the customer. Other businesses, such as Costa Coffee, Pizza Express and Waitrose, have also started to take action.
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