Perfect for the Earth
Bar chain replace plastic straws with ones that turn into super soil
Scotland’s largest pub operator have revealed plans to remove more than a million plastic straws from use each year.
Greene King say they will replace ththe environmentally harmful ones wwith compostable versions.
The chain, who have more than 300 ppubs here and run brewers Belhaven, hhave backed our campaign to make SScotland the first country in Europe to be free of plastic straws.
Their new polylactic acid (PLA) ststraws – made from corn starch and susugar cane – go through a process aaf ter use to turn them into nnutrient-rich soil.
They decompose in 12 weeks – as oopposed to plastic straws, which can take 500 years to break down.
The move is a massive boost to our Last Straw campaign, which has seen more than 10million plastic straws removed from Scotland since the start of the year.
Greene King c ommu n i c a t i o n s director Greg Sage said: “I applaud the Sunday Mai l ’s campaigning, which has highlighted the impact of plastics on the environment, oceans and marine life.
“Pubs, bars and restaurants are showing encouraging signs of taking action.
“From this month, we are i nt roduci ng compostable PLA straws across all of our pubs.”
Earlier this year, Greene King removed plastic straws from their bars and only served them on demand. That move led to an estimated 60 per cent reduction in straw use. The firm believe the latest switch will remove more than 30mi l lion straws from use each year across Britain, including 1.2million in Scotland. The straws will be segregated from other items at pubs, taken back to suppliers and de compose data composting facility. This process is believed to be the first in the country’ s hospitality industry. Sage added: “We’re proud to be pioneering this solution for our sector and hope others will follow suit.”
The PLA straws will be introduced across their 1750 pubs in Britain, which includes more than 100 in Scotland, including The Albanach in Edinburgh, The Scotia Bar in Glasgow and The Holburn in Aberdeen.
Meanwhile, KFC say they’ve reduced plastic straw use by a third by placing them behind counters.
McDonald’s announced in June that they would remove plastic straws from their UK and Ireland locations starting this month.
Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has pledged to ban plastic straws in Scotland by the end of next year.