Walt Disney To Eliminate Plastic Straws At Parks, Resorts By 2019

(RTTNews) - The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it will eliminate the use of plastic straws and stirrers at all of its theme parks and resorts by mid-2019, thus becoming the latest major company to ditch plastic straws.

By 2019, the company plans to eliminate single-use plastic straws and plastic stirrers at all owned and operated locations across the globe. The company expects the decision to reduced the use of more than 175 million straws and 13 million stirrers annually.

"Eliminating plastic straws and other plastic items are meaningful steps in our long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship," said Bob Chapek, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Consumer Products. "These new global efforts help reduce our environmental footprint, and advance our long-term sustainability goals."

Disney also shared additional plans to reduce plastic waste across its businesses over the next few years by transitioning to refillable in-room amenities in Disney's hotels and on cruise ships, reducing the number of plastic shopping bags in its parks and on Disney Cruise Line and by completing its work to eliminate polystyrene cups across all of its global owned and operated businesses.

Earlier this month, Marriott International, the world's largest hotel company said it would eliminate the use of plastic straws from its more than 6,500 properties by next July. Starbucks also announced its decision to drop plastic straws from its 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020. McDonald's also plans to stop the use of plastic straws at about 1,300 restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland.