PUBS giant JD Wetherspoon has announced that it will stop using plastic straws across its estate by the end of the year.
The company, which has 900 pubs across the UK and Ireland, including more than 65 in Scotland, will instead offer biodegradable paper straws from January 2018.
In the meantime, plastic straws will remain available to customers – but they will have to request them at the bar.
Wetherspoon chief executive, John Hutson, commented that the move was “part of an overall commitment from the company to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste produced”.
“We believe that Wetherspoon pub-goers will welcome this,” he said.
The pubs giant is not the first to make a move away from plastic straws in the on-trade.
Earlier this year, Mitchel & Butlers-owned chain All Bar One pledged to end plastic straw use in all of its 52 outlets across the UK; it stated that, across its estate, the business uses approximately 13,000 straws a day.
And the operators behind Glasgow-based Greek restaurant Halloumi banned plastic straws earlier this year (June) in a bid to help the environment, now offering paper straws instead.
