Starbucks, citing environment, is ditching plastic straws

The Seattle-based company said Monday it will also use lids designed not to need straws.

The company will broaden the manufacture and use of what some in social media have dubbed the "adult sippy cup".

Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from its stores globally by 2020, in a nod to the growing push for businesses to be more environmentally friendly.

The global coffee giant said that it plans to eliminate all single-use plastic straws by 2020, and will instead cap cold drinks with lids that do not require the use of a straw.

Starbucks said Monday that it is making available a strawless lid at 8,000 stores in the USA and Canada for certain drinks. And it's a part of Starbucks' $10 million investment in creating recyclable and compostable cups around the world. The company already offers alternative straws in Seattle.

McDonald's shareholders voted down a proposal requesting a report on plastic straws in May.

McDonald's recently said it would switch to paper straws in the United Kingdom and Ireland by next year, and test alternatives to plastic straws in some USA locations.

In the United States, local governments are already putting similar restrictions into place.

The company says the move when fully implemented could mean a billion fewer plastic straws across its stores each year. Seattle's ban on plastic straws and utensils went into effect last week.

Still, those who support limiting plastic straws say they are generally unnecessary and a ban is symbolically important.

Nicholas Mallos, director of Ocean Conservancy's Trash Free Seas program, called Starbucks' decision a "shining example" of how companies can help fight ocean pollution.