Starbucks to follow Seattle's lead, phase out plastic straws 'as opposition to them grows'

As Twitchy reported a week ago, Seattle became the first major city to ban plastic straws, and failure to comply may result in a $250 fine, although city leaders say right now the ban is mostly about “raising awareness.”

Now, as opposition to plastic straws grows (or at least that’s Reuters’ claim in its headline), Seattle-based Starbucks has announced it will be phasing out plastic straws and plans to be rid of them entirely by 2020.

We're removing plastic straws in our stores globally by 2020—reducing more than 1 billion plastic straws per year from our stores.

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) July 9, 2018

Starbucks announced in a press release that it has already “designed, developed and manufactured a strawless lid, which will become the standard for all iced coffee, tea and espresso beverages.”

So you can hang out in Starbucks all day long and not buy anything, but you can’t have a straw. But aren’t the cups and lids still going to be made of plastic? Better yet, why not just close up shop? That would save electricity and cut down on automobile emissions too.

Chelsea Clinton’s pretty jazzed:

Fantastic news! Decreasing our use of plastic straws is an important step to protecting our planet: https://t.co/fi5M2CPz2L

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) July 9, 2018

Others are not so excited by the news.

But let's keep all those plastic cups and lids.

— FreedomLoving, Wayne (@Libertyhound1) July 9, 2018

I went to a @Starbucks that had those sip-lids. The lid leaked terribly and when I tried to re-cap it, it would just come off so easily. I ended up using a straw so that I didn't have to tip my cup while driving and also wrapped the cup in napkins to catch any leaks.

— Jasmine Lehualani (@candymelodies) July 9, 2018

Horrible news for germaphobes. Just the thought of putting my mouth on a lid touched by (lord knows where those hands have been) gives me the willies. That’s why I use straws in the first place.

— WhyGee (@sacmom3) July 9, 2018

Realizing that this is the environmental cause du jour of progressives, I have stockpiled a couple thousand to last me thru my life or until progressives stop interfering in every one else’s

— steelmogul (@steelmogul) July 9, 2018

Paper straws?

— Cheryl Wigglebottom (@senorasantos) July 9, 2018

There are paper straws, they are just more expensive.

— Wendy Costanzo (@wendy1213) July 9, 2018

Ugh. I cannot stand paper straws. So gross!

— Kelly Madison (@kel2178) July 9, 2018

But the straws taste better than their coffee.

— Tracie (@TracieLiberty) July 9, 2018

How would you drink a frappuccino though? Genuinely curious.

— ?????? ???????? (@YAYItweets) July 9, 2018

Somebody explain to me how you drink a frappacino without a straw. Oh, I know. They want you to buy a $3 reusable metal or hard plastic one to go with the $6 beverage. I'm thinking no.

— SarahD (@sadnky) July 9, 2018

Heine Brothers is using paper straws. They don’t work too well with my favorite, which is a chaiberg. They get too soft, then you can’t actually drink though it.

— WBBFANatic (@jennywbbfan) July 9, 2018

https://twitter.com/FarmerDave_/status/1016327074385031174

Starbucks is also working on phasing out all customers by 2022

— Full Semi-Auto ̲?̲?̲?̲?̲?̲?̲? Musket (@FSAAM556) July 9, 2018

Well, they seem to be transitioning to out of business at the rate they’re closing stores. Not sure how much it’s going to matter.

— John Dillon (@DillonIG) July 9, 2018

Are they phasing out racial profiling and insensitivity as well? #sssam #donte #rashon

— Karen (@anAmericanKaren) July 9, 2018

Apparently not, even after closing down for sensitivity training.

This is a faux environmental outreach campaign. Much like their naive attempt to combat pseudo ‘unconscious racism’ was a PR ploy. 1. Straws are not a pressing environmental concern. 2. State intervention infringes on free commerce. 3. It violates ADA for those with disabilities.

— David R. White (@dwhite1979) July 9, 2018

If anyone’s interested, Reason has a great piece called, “15 Times Major Media Outlets Used a Statistic about Plastic Straws Based on Research by a 9-Year-Old.” Yep, 9-year-old Milo Cress got the Be Straw Free campaign rolling with some since-debunked research.

It's clear. Starbucks has officially saved the planet. ?

— Truth (@leftwingevil) July 9, 2018

Related:

'This is INSANE'! So, looks like Seattle's trying to screw over kids AND the disabled with this new ban https://t.co/a0qDOWan1A

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 2, 2018