So long suckers, bar chain bans the straw
PLASTIC straws are being phased out by a leading food and drink chain in a new attack on waste and pollution.
Just as supermarkets have replaced plastic cotton bud sticks with paper, and microbeads are to be banned from beauty products, so plastic straws are now being targeted.
The plan has been announced by All Bar One, part of the Mitchells & Butlers group. The company, which said a plastic straw can take up to 500 years to rot if sent to landfill, will stop offering them with many drinks.
The 56 All Bar One outlets serve straws in one in four drinks and the group uses 4.7million a year.
A spokesman for the chain said: ‘We know how incredibly harmful plastic straws are to animals and the environment, so we’ve decided to do something about it.’
The company is urging other chains and pubs to drop plastic straws under a campaign using the hashtag #strawsuck.
It is possible the whole Mitchells & Butler group, which has hundreds of outlets, including Harvester, Sizzling Pubs, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Toby Carvery, Nicholson’s, O’Neill’s, Browns and Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery, could follow suit.
Plant-based straws will be supplied by Edinburgh-based firm Vegware. It has developed a range of compostable green cups and packaging to replace plastic.
Attempts to reduce the use of plastic straws are part of a much wider backlash against so-called ‘plastic poison’ that blights the landscape as litter, pollutes rivers and seas and harms wildlife.
Many supermarkets and manufacturers have replaced the plastic rods used in cotton buds with rolled paper.
The last Government pledged to introduce a legal ban on the use of plastic microbeads in body scrubs and personal care products.
It also promised a review of the idea of introducing a deposit and refund scheme on plastic bottles, as exists in countries such as Germany and in Scandinavia, as well as parts of the US and Australia. The idea of trials has been supported by Coca-Cola.
Last month, Keep Britain Tidy called on high street businesses to offer free tap water to stop the growing blight of plastic bottles. Millions are buying small bottles of water when they would rather carry a reusable one and get free tap water refills, according to their research.
The green charity said a move to make tap water more freely available would help cut down on the number of plastic bottles that are bought, dumped in landfill or burned.
A deposit scheme aimed at curbing the build-up of plastic bottles on Britain’s streets and beaches is being considered by ministers, following a Daily Mail appeal.
‘We decided to do something about it’