McDonald’s are ditching plastic straws from all their Irish restaurants

Good news for the environment.

McDonald's has said that they plan to ditch single use plastic straws from all of their restaurants across Ireland and the UK. The fast food chain will replace the plastic with paper straws next year in each of their 1,361 branches. This comes as many multinational food companies are facing pressure from environmental groups to reduce the amount of plastic waste they produce. Single use plastics like straws and other disposable waste are incredibly harmful to wildlife like fish and turtles as they often end up dumped in the ocean. Chief executive of McDonald's UK and Ireland, Paul Pomroy, said that move reflects McDonald's customers' opinions on straws. He said:

"Over the past few months we've been working closely with supplier partners to find a solution that works both for our customers, and that the supply is there given the size of our business. "The (British) government's ambitious plans, combined with strong customer opinion, has helped to accelerate the move away from plastic and I'm proud that we've been able to play our part in helping to achieve this societal change."

Paper straws were trialled on a limited number of customers back in April with most expressing positive feedback. The change is expected to be completed across all restaurants by next year.