Food Lovers Market launched a Withdraw The Straw campaign where it will be replacing all plastic straws with paper ones in its stores nationally. With more than one million single-use plastic straws being discarded around the world on a daily basis, the fresh produce retailer is implementing a paper straw upon request policy.
The campaign aligns with other sustainability practices implemented by the retailer, such as offering recyclable boxes to shoppers instead of bags and the planned national rollout of paper bags in Food Lovers Market stores. As of July, shoppers will have a choice of purchasing a paper bag or a box for their purchases, instead of a plastic bag.
Andrew Millson, head of sustainability for the Food Lovers Market Group said, ‘The Withdraw the Straw project is in line with the philosophy of sustainable values, which embraces our responsibility to the environment. The facts around plastic straws are shocking and its one of the most common items found during beach cleanups. As they are lightweight and easily blown away by the wind, they often end up in our marine waters. Animals such as seagulls and turtles ingest these plastics, which can cause their deaths.’
Think twice before asking for a plastic straw:
• More than five trillion pieces of plastic are already floating in our oceans.
• Worldwide, 73% of beach litter is plastic: filters from cigarette butts, bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags and polystyrene containers.
• As of 2015, more than 6.9 billion tons of plastic waste had been generated. Around 9% of that was recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% accumulated in landfills or environment.
• Some 700 species of marine animals have been reported so far to have eaten or become entangled in plastic.
• More than 40% of plastic is used just once, then tossed.
