Starbucks Joins the Anti-Straw Craze

Starbucks plans to stop using plastic straws at all of its stores worldwide within the next two years.

The global coffee chain will eliminate all plastic straws by 2020, and will instead cap cold drinks with lids, Starbucks stated in a press statement. Starbucks becomes the most recent company to join a crusade against plastic straws.

The move is a “significant milestone to achieve our global aspiration of sustainable coffee, served to our customers in more sustainable ways,” Kevin Johnson, Starbucks president and CEO, said in the statement.

Starbucks believes the move will save $1 billion a year. The company is not the only chain to wage war on straws. McDonald’s also announced it will stop using plastic straws in stores throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.

U.K. intends to criminalize the use of all plastic waste by 2042. The ban includes stirrers and cotton swabs, two of the major causes of environmental disaster.

England has already foisted excessive fees on plastic bags in the name of protecting the climate. London, for its part, is also taking part in the campaign to ban items deemed too dangerous for use.

Local officials in the U.S. have also considered banning straws. Three members of Berkeley’s city council in California proposed legislation in the final week of May that would ban plastic straws, reported KPIX. The city has previously banned plastic bags and placed an extra tax on soda.

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