Starbucks is saying goodbye to plastic straws. The company announced their plans on Monday to eliminate plastic straws from 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020.
The coffee-shop giant will instead use recyclable strawless lids and an alternative material straw option, so you can still enjoy your favorite cold brew while helping the environment. The move will eliminate more than one billion plastic straws per year from Starbucks stores, according to the company.
According to the announcement, Starbucks is focused on “reducing waste and safeguarding the environment”. The new lid with a thumbprint-sized opening on the top is made out of plastic, but it contains “polypropylene content”. This basically means the material is easily recycled.
.@Starbucks to eliminate plastic straws globally by 2020 https://t.co/s6Ddb6CVEw pic.twitter.com/mIEDDMEWWY
— Starbucks News (@Starbucksnews) July 9, 2018
While the strawless lid is perfect for iced coffee, tea, and espresso beverages, it could be problematic for our beloved frappuccinos. Don’t worry though, Starbucks will serve all the delicious beverages with a paper or compostable plastic straw. According to the release, the compostable plastic straw will be made from “fermented plant starch or other sustainable material”, so it won’t create plastic waste.
“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,” said president and chief executive officer for Starbucks Kevin Johnson in a statement to NPR.
The environmentally friendly lid is also available now in more than 8,000 of its stores in the US and Canada for beverages like the Draft Nitro and Cold Foam, according to USA Today. Cold beverages take up more than 50 percent of Starbucks sales in 2017, said the company.
Customers in Seatle and Vancouver will see strawless lids take full effect in the fall, and the rest of Starbucks 28,000 locations will follow suit by 2020.