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Editorial PARIS

AFP

After the sacks, plastic straws became the new pet peeve of ecologists, to the point that countries like the UK and giants like McDonald's are considering them prohibit.

According to a study by the American science magazine, eight million tons of plastic remains are dumped each year in the seas of the planet, the equivalent of 250 kilos per second.

Among these residues, straws occupy a prominent place and ecologists have many images to illustrate this harmful impact.

A video shows, for example, two biologists, who for several minutes remove several straws from the nose of a sea turtle in Costa Rica.

They are served automatically with the glbades in the bars, they are too small to be recycled, they pbad all the filters, "laments AFP Yasmine El-Kotni, co-founder of the French badociation "Bas les Pailles", which asks for its ban in France On the website change.org

– The United Kingdom, a good student –

On the legislative side, the European Commission proposed in May of prohibit cutlery, plates, straws and sticks, among other plastic products, and impose its manufacture with more durable materials, the measure still to be examined by the EU Member States and the European Parliament [19659004] Britain announced its intention in April to ban plastic straw at the end of the year.

In France to stop using plastic tableware and canes for 2020, but not the straws, the "forgotten", according to El-Kotn.

B Although the French Senate is currently debating adding them to the list of banned goods, several amendments have been rejected by the other chamber, the National Assembly.

Some companies preferred not to wait to be forced by legislation.

McDonald's is testing two alternatives to plastic straws since mid-June: biodegradable straws and integrated closure cups.

The Hilton hotel chain announced that it would stop using 5 million straws and 20 straws. Millions of plastic bottles are served each year in its 650 stores around the world.

There are already alternatives, such as biodegradable plastic straws – twice as expensive – served at the Palace Monte Carlo, a five-star hotel Monaco stars

Crudity, bamboo or food … the ideas of substitution are not lacking.

Logically, for the plastics professionals, this mobilization "is not a good sign", according to Hervé Millet. , Director of Technical and Regulatory Affairs of the European Federation of Plastics Producers PlasticsEurope.

"But the major brands also have a problem of imagination and must try to find ways to respond to an alleged social expectation," admits Millet.

"We must find alternatives. We have been working since months, but from night to day, it's very complicated, "says Pierre Be, general manager of Be, the European leader in straw.