Starbucks has announced that it will stop handing out single-use plastic straws at its 28,000 stores around the world. The company says it will design a 'strawless lid' or find an alternative material to use by 2020.Once fully implemented, the policy will eliminate 1bn plastic straws per year from heading to landfills and play a part in saving the estimated 100,000 mammals who die each year from ingesting or getting tangled in plastic waste, particularly in the ocean and on beaches. Since the city of Seattle outlawed plastic straws and utensils beginning last week, Starbucks will begin with stores there and in nearby Vancouver, Canada. Shareholders voted down an effort to get a report about plastic straws across all locations, but the fast food icon said it would be testing plastic alternatives in select US stores.
