{"id":141431,"date":"2018-06-15T04:21:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T04:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/mcdonalds-to-ditch-plastic-straws\/"},"modified":"2018-06-15T04:21:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T04:21:22","slug":"mcdonalds-to-ditch-plastic-straws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/mcdonalds-to-ditch-plastic-straws\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald&#8217;s to ditch plastic straws"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"cups with paper straws\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/16209\/production\/_102033609_320bf594-5c81-4840-a9fe-069c0842cd1f.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  PA<figcaption>Image caption                                      Paper straws will replace the plastic ones                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">McDonald&#039;s will replace plastic straws with paper ones in all its UK and Ireland restaurants, starting from September.<\/p>\n<p>The fast food giant is the latest company to opt out of the single-use plastic, which can take hundreds of years to decompose if not recycled.<\/p>\n<p>The restaurant chain uses 1.8 million straws a day in the UK. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;Reflecting the broader public debate, our customers told us they wanted to see a move on straws,&quot; the firm said.<\/p>\n<p>This decision follows a successful trial in selected restaurants earlier this year. The move to paper straws will begin in September and be completed next year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The last (plastic) straw: Who&#039;s banning them?<\/li>\n<li>Reality Check: Do we use 8.5 billion straws a year in the UK?<\/li>\n<li>Plastic straw and cotton bud ban proposed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Environment Secretary Michael Gove called it a &quot;significant contribution&quot; to helping the environment, adding that it was &quot;a fine example to other large businesses&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>In April, the government proposed a ban on plastic straws and cotton buds in England. But many businesses, including Waitrose, Costa Coffee, and Wagamama, have already started to take action. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      Plastic straws can take hundreds of years to decompose                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All JD Wetherspoon pubs stopped using plastic straws at the beginning of the year. Pizza Express said it would replace all plastic straws with biodegradable ones by summer 2018.<\/p>\n<p>And more than 60 independent British festivals - including Boardmasters and Bestival - have banned plastic straws as part of a pledge to rid their sites of single-use plastic by 2021.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plastic pollution: &#039;Scourge&#039; of debris on beaches tackled<\/li>\n<li>Disabled people &#039;need plastic straws&#039;<\/li>\n<li>Plastic and cotton found in UK&#039;s wild mussels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most straws are made from plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene, which unless recycled take hundreds of years to decompose. <\/p>\n<p>Many end up in landfill and the oceans, and the BBC&#039;s Blue Planet II highlighted the damage plastic can cause to marine wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone thinks total bans are the answer. <\/p>\n<p>Plastic straws enable many disabled people to drink independently, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said. She said paper alternatives were not always suitable or safe. <\/p>\n<p>And Tetra Pak - the food packaging company - has said plastic straws serve a &quot;vital&quot; function in cartons and should not be banned. <\/p>\n<p>It argues that straws can be recycled together with cartons if they are pushed back into the box. <\/p>\n<figure>             <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/720x405\/p05xhj9w.jpg\"\/>Media playback is unsupported on your device<figcaption>Media captionPlastic pollution is killing animals in the Arctic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Transcend Packaging in Wales, and Huhtamaki in Belfast, will supply the straws for all 1,361 McDonald&#039;s restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>The straws will use paper from certified sustainable sources, the company said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The government&#039;s ambitious plans, combined with strong customer opinion, has helped to accelerate the move away from plastic and I&#039;m proud that we&#039;ve been able to play our part,&quot; said Paul Pomroy, chief executive of McDonald&#039;s UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>The ban does not yet extend to the rest of the chain&#039;s global empire, but trials will begin in selected restaurants in the US, France and Norway. <\/p>\n<p>In some other countries, straws are being offered on request only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright PAImage caption Paper straws will replace the plastic ones McDonald&#039;s will replace plastic straws with paper ones in all its UK and Ireland restaurants, starting from September. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}