Starbucks to phase out plastic straws

Starbucks Corp. said on Monday it will begin phasing out use of plastic straws at its restaurants by 2020, giving environmentalists a sizeable victory in their campaign to convince restaurants to abandon plastic utensils.

Starbucks on Monday said it will begin phasing out the use of plastic straws at all its location worldwide by 2020 - a big victory for environmentalists who campaigned to convince the coffee chain to abandon plastic utensils.

Last month, McDonald's announced plans to transition to paper straws at its UK and Ireland restaurants by 2019. Though a proposal to investigate the impact of plastic straws at ALL its restaurants was shot down by shareholders in May.

The U.N. Environment Programme estimates that some 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean every year - the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck full of plastic every minute - killing birds and marine life in the process.

Plastic straws represent a comparatively small amount of all plastic waste. But they are more difficult to recycle than other plastic items.

Starbucks said the changes will help to eliminate more than 1 billion plastic straws a year.

In a statement on Monday, CEO Kevin Johnson said: "For our partners and customers, this is a significant milestone to achieve our global aspiration of sustainable coffee, served to our customers in more sustainable ways." (Reuters)