After The UK, McDonald’s Is Now Phasing Out Plastic Straws In Another Country

Image via 8th.creator / Shutterstock.com

In addition to the UK, the Golden Arches plans to eliminate single-use plastic straws from its 970 restaurants in Australia by 2020.

McDonald’s is currently working together with local suppliers to find sustainable alternatives, and will trial the use of paper straws across two of its restaurants beginning August.

It also launched a cup recycling initiative in April across eight McDonald’s restaurants that was executed in partnership with Simply Cups.

When it comes to reprocessing cup packaging, the fast food chain faces a similar problem voiced by global coffee brand Starbucks.

“Beverage cups are a unique concern when it comes to recycling through normal paper recycling facilities due to the inner plastic lining. By separating the cups through designated bins we can ensure cups are diverted to the right facility to recycle this material. Our trials will provide useful learnings that will help to determine next steps for potential wider restaurant implementation,” explained Robert Sexton, McDonald’s Australia Director of Supply Chain, inside a press release.

By 2025, McDonald’s intends to produce 100 percent of guest packaging from renewable, recycled, or certified sources, and provide guest packaging recycling in all of its restaurants internationally.

This move follows Starbucks’ latest announcement to ban plastic straws for an alternate lid design.

[via McDonald’s, main image via 8th.creator / Shutterstock.com]