STRAWS BANNED AT THE OPEN? OF COURSE THEY ARE
Tournament bosses in crackdown on plastics
Plastic straws have been banned from this year’s Open golf championship at Carnoustie.
Organisers the R& A said they were axing the items from drinks venues.
It is the second major sporting event to remove plastic straws in a week. The All England Club earlier announced plastic straws would not be available to spectators at Wimbledon.
The 147th Open will take place at Carnoustie from July 15 to 22, with 150,000 fans expected to visit the Angus town.
The R& A said: “E f fect ive environmental management is a key focus for us at The Open each year and the introduction of our GreenLinks programme three years ago has enabled us to make important progress in addressing the sustainability considerations around staging a major sporting event.
“We are committed to reducing the volume of single-use plastic materials at the championship and the removal of plastic straws from
hospitality outlets was a high priority as part of our preparations for staging The Open at Carnoustie this year.” Campaigners in Carnoustie welcomed The Open’s straw ban.
Natal ie Ross, of Carnoustie Community Council, said the move was an “excellent idea”, adding: “We organise a clean-up of the beach once a month and we are always finding plastic items, including plastic straws and bottles.”
The Sunday Mail launched its Last Straw campaign in January in a bid to make Scotland free of the plastic items.
Since then, organi sat ions such as ScotRail, the National Trust for Scotland and the Scotch Whisky Association have vowed to move away from them. Environment Secretary
Roseanna Cunningham pledged to ban plastic straws by the end of next year, whi le PM Theresa May announced their sale is to be banned in Britain.
The throwaway items cause serious harm to the environment. Plastic straws take 500 years to biodegrade and harm marine wildlife.
The Scottish Government will no longer use them in any buildings. The Queen is banning plastic straws from Buckingham Palace and Holyrood Palace. And 11 councils in Scotland have pledged to ban them, while six others are reviewing their use.
Supermarket chain Waitrose said they will stop selling packs of plastic straws from September.
Murrayf ield, home of Scottish
rugby, start of stopped the year, using while them Hampden, at the home of football, have also said they will ditch plastic straws.
Sodexo, who cater for Perth and Hamilton Park racecourses and Aberdeen’s Pittodrie stadium, are also reviewing their use of plastic straws.
Our campaign has been backed by major figures in the music industry too.
The directors of Electric Fields are banning plastic straws from their three-day event at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire.
The festival, which runs from August 30 to September 1, features Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, James and Leftfield.