270 F&B Places in S’pore To Stop Providing Straws By 1 July 2019

By
Victoria Lee
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Time to invest in a metal straw if you can’t live without drinking something through a straw.

Because it’s not just certain fast-food restaurants in Singapore that are cutting costs removing straws from their premises.

By July, 270 F&B places in Singapore are going to stop providing plastic straws to consumers in a bid to save the planet.

Go green.

Cutting Down on Plastic

The F&B outlets, which are owned by 31 companies, will only provide plastic straws to customers if requested, or if they have a medical reason.

They include:

  • All 53 restaurants and hotels under the Accor Group, like Raffles Hotel, Fairmont Hotel, and Swissotel and The Stamford
  • F&B outlets in the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park are also part of the movement (my colleague said they’ve already done so based on his last visit)
  • Twenty-four PastaMania outlets
  • Eight Nando’s restaurants
  • 15 F&B outlets of Spa Esprit Group, including Tiong Bahru Bakery.

This move is part of the Plastic Action (Pact) which is a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) initiative., and is supported by the National Environment Agency and Zero Waste SG.

WWF hopes to send the signal to other brands to join in on the movement, after making this statement that businesses are beginning to take responsibility for the plastics that they consume.

Plastic Consumption Levels

You will be shocked by the number of plastic straws we use.

According to a 2018 report by consultancy AlphaBeta and social enterprises The Final Straw and the Cyan Project, an estimated 2.2 million straws are used every day on our little red dot.

That’s right. Every day.

Image: Imgur

By 2050, the WWF says that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight. Which means that whatever we have now, may no longer be around for the younger generations. That’s alarming.

In fact, microplastics have been found in the gut of one out of four fish.

Grilled fish with plastic? Yummy.

Over the years, other F&B brands have also begun to participate in this movement. Last year, KFC stopped providing straws across all its outlets. At Resorts World Sentosa, dining outlets also stopped providing plastic straws.

WWF Singapore will continue to work with other companies to find ways to reduce plastic usage.

Saving the Earth

The Earth is dying because of us. Our oceans are also dying because of us. (We’re also dying because of us, so what does that say.)

Thankfully, some organisations are helping to clear plastic from the oceans. One organisation, in particular, is 4ocean. Here’s a video of what they do.

Look at the amount of plastic they fish out of the sea. Humans really should cease to exist. 4ocean also sells bracelets which are made out of recycled plastic. One bracelet bought is equivalent to one pound of trash being removed from the ocean and coastlines.

Since 2017 and through the sales of their products, they have removed 4,551,109 pounds of trash from oceans and coastlines.

You can shop for a bracelet here.

Of course, if you don’t wear bracelets, that’s okay. If you’re a frequent user of plastic straws, it’s time to invest in a metal straw. Not because it’s a trend, but because you’re helping in a movement to save the Earth and our oceans.

Just Google for metal straws and you would already be able to find a few to choose from.

Here’s to saving our planet.

Image: giphy

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Victoria Lee
Email: [email protected]