June 15, 2018

Today, McDonald’s has announced that it will start phasing out plastic straws from some of its outlets. Consumer watchdog SumOfUs welcomes the news but urges the chain to go further and ban plastic straws in all their outlets worldwide, to tackle the growing crisis of plastic pollution.

The fast-food giant uses an estimated 95 million straws worldwide daily. As of June 18, McDonald’s will launch a test allowing consumers in some of its outlets in some US cities, Norway and France – the company’s second biggest market in the world – to choose between two alternatives to replace the highly polluting plastic straw.

The news comes alongside an announcement that McDonald’s will remove plastic straws entirely from all its outlets in the UK and Ireland, from September following similar trials of alternatives.

Sondhya Gupta, Senior Campaigner at SumOfUs, said:

"Almost 490,000 have people signed a SumOfUs petition calling on fast-food giant McDonald’s to stop giving plastic straws to customers. Today’s news of plans to remove the highly polluting straws from a selection of the chain’s outlets in France, Norway and some US cities, while phasing them out altogether in the UK and Ireland, is hugely welcome. But McDonald's must now replicate this globally – while ensuring it continues to cater for disabled people in all its outlets. Indeed, all companies need to urgently take action to reduce the plastic pollution that they have contributed to for decades."