McDonald's announces it's working to ditch Plastic Straws

Today, McDonald’s announced a phased rollout of paper straws in all 1,361 McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and Ireland with completion set for 2019 as well as plans to test alternatives to plastic straws in multiple markets throughout the globe later this year.

McDonald’s UK and Ireland will begin transitioning to paper straws in all of its restaurants starting in September.

This move supports McDonald’s goal to source 100% of guest packaging from renewable, recycled, or certified sources by 2025 and to have guest packaging recycling in all restaurants globally.

Francesca DeBiase Executive Vice President, Global Supply Chain and Sustainability:

“McDonald’s is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally.”

“In addition to the exciting news from the UK today, we are testing straw alternatives in other countries to provide the best experience for our customers.”

“We hope this work will support industry wide change and bring sustainable solutions to scale.”

In addition to tests that began earlier this year in the UK, McDonald’s has also begun testing alternatives to plastic straws in Belgium.

Later this year, McDonald’s will begin testing alternatives in select restaurants in the U.S., France, Sweden, Norway and Australia.

In addition to testing alternative materials, in several markets including Malaysia, McDonald's will begin tests to offer straws upon request only.

The restaurant chain wants to learn from these tests around the world to develop solutions that are scalable across the globe.