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Starbucks will stop using plastic disposable straws by 2020, eliminating over one billion straws a year, the retailer said Monday.
Starbucks, which has more than 28,000 stores worldwide, will use recyclable eyelids without straw. most of his iced drinks. Frappuccino is the only exception: it will have a straw made of paper or compostable plastic.
Plastic straw, a once-omnipresent accessory for frosty summer drinks and sugary sodas, has fallen out of favor in recent years. with a growing reaction on its effect on the environment.
In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than 500 million disposable plastic straws are used every day, according to Eco-Cycle, a nonprofit recycling organization. Although plastic straws are made of polypropylene, a recyclable plastic, most recyclers will not accept them.
"Plastic straws are quite small and light, so when they go through the mechanical sorter, they are often lost or diverted," said Sam Athey, a researcher on plastic pollution and a member of Plastic Ocean Project, a nonprofit organization based in Wilmington, NC, which aims to reduce the use of plastic
. "
It takes about" 200 years for polypropylene straws to break down into Normal environmental conditions, "said Ms. Athey
meanwhile, the plastic becomes brittle and breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, adding that plastics can be eaten by organisms, she adds.
Also, when plastics decompose, their surface-to-volume ratio increases, says Athey, to attract and absorb more pollutants like BPA, which is a known endocrine disruptor. "
It is difficult e to know how many straws or straw particles end up in the streams and oceans, but the plastic straws found on the beaches, according to the Ocean Conservancy, which volunteers picked up more than 9 million straws and agitators beaches and waterways.
The movement to ban single-use straw gained ground thanks to the work of non-profit organizations. lawmakers and online campaigns like Stop Sucking and Last Plastic Straw, not to mention a 2015 video video, viewed on YouTube over 30 million times, showing marine biologists pulling a straw from the nose. A sea turtle.
And in Los Angeles, a Kickstarter campaign to develop "the world's first foldable and reusable straw" has already attracted $ 1.9 million in contributions, and a documentary titled "St Raws , "Now screening across the country, examines the problems caused by plastic pollution." The theme of this year's Earth Day was the end of plastic pollution, one of the goals is to eliminating single-use plastics
This month, Seattle, home of Starbucks, has become one of the first major cities in the United States to ban single-use plastic straws. Florida and California e have banned or partially banned straws, and state officials in California are considering a measure that would prevent restaurants from distributing plastic straw unless a customer requests it. In New York, there have been recent proposals to ban single-use plastic bags and ban plastic straws in New York restaurants.
In areas where plastic straws are not already banned or restricted and Alaska Airlines is taking steps to reduce their use.
Starbucks achieved an annual business turnover of $ 22.4 billion last year, making it one of the largest companies to advertise that it would eliminate the plastic straws. "We are confident that this decision is more sustainable and more socially responsible," said Chris Milne, director of packaging supply for Starbucks, in a statement
. has debuted in more than 8,000 stores in the US and Canada and will be in store worldwide by 2020. Cold drinks from the retailer have become increasingly important: five years ago they accounted for 37% of beverage sales; in 2017, he was more than half, said Starbucks in a statement
The pressure to avoid disposable straws has created a market for reusable straws made of materials like paper, silicone, stainless steel, glass and bamboo. Some companies that have rejected disposable plastic straws opt for a compostable plastic straw. Ecologists say that these straws can also be problematic. If they are discarded instead of composted, for example, they will not collapse.
But plastic straws accounted for only a small portion of the 335 million tons of plastic produced worldwide in 2016.
Scott DeFife, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Plastics Industry Association, said that his organization encourages product design in a way that facilitates recovery and recycling. Straws are not to blame; "Plastic straws have legitimate and important uses, and banning them gives a false sense of accomplishment, which is more harmful in the long run," he said. "Our goal is to make sure every product, no matter how small, can be properly recovered."
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