I’ve seen our strawless future. And it’s just fine

With just a few hours to spare before I needed to head to the airport, I opened Google Maps on my phone and thought something I hadn’t thought in many years: “OK, I need to find a McDonald’s.”

I was in Taiwan last month, having spent a week visiting various machinery manufacturers. I wasn’t on the hunt for a Big Mac or a little taste of America before I hopped on a plane; I was chasing down a potential story tip.

A conversation the day before about single use plastics with Andy Lu, a smart machinery marketing expert from the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, had sent me on this chase.

“McDonald’s in Taipei have already gotten rid of straws,” he said, casually.

“What?” I responded, surprised.

“They have a whole marketing campaign that translates to ‘kiss the cup.’ Like you kiss the drink instead of using the straw,” he said. “It started a couple of weeks ago.”

Taiwan has plans to phase out many single use plastics, and that includes straws. It seems like one of the biggest restaurants in the world wanted to get a head start on the action.

I found a nearby McDonald’s and walked in. Sure enough, people were carrying around cups with polypropylene lids that sort of resembled sippy cups for babies. I got in line and ordered a Coke.

While waiting for the order, I noticed an empty straw dispenser with Chinese characters on it. According to Google Translate, it read: “I have retired the straw box. Kiss. Drink directly from cold drinks. Love the Earth together and don’t take a straw.”

I got my drink and headed to an open seat. That’s when I noticed that every table had similar messaging on it. They had obviously gone all in on abandoning straws.

The lid had a simple pull tab that lodged into place, creating an opening to drink. I nervously took a sip. It came out of the lid just fine. Why was I nervous? I looked around and dozens of people were sipping from their drinks.

I did what any good journalist would do when you stumble upon something like this: I immediately texted my editor. Of course Don Loepp considered an angle that hadn’t occurred to me just yet – what exactly is going to happen to all these lids? You can’t recycle straws, can you recycle these? Will these just end up as litter?

I looked over at the trash bins and sure enough, there were a few different areas to separate items. They designated a spot simply for the lids. I peeked inside, and sure enough, it’s just full of lids and nothing else. No cross contamination with burger wrappers or French fry boxes.

As I walked out, I realized this is our future. This will be every fast food restaurant in America some day. It won’t be this year, or maybe in the next couple of years. But it’s coming. Plastic straws will largely be phased out. And guess what? It’s OK. They’ll be replaced by recyclable PP lids. And the industry and environment will be better for it.

My plan to count and document my yearly straw use will come to a premature conclusion. My final day with Plastics News is June 21. I’m joining the staff of Automotive News, a sister publication of PN.

I started with Plastics News full time just before K 2013 and have really enjoyed getting to know the industry and the people in it.

I’m extremely proud to have worked with an immensely talented staff at Plastics News. The dedication and hard work I’ve seen from my colleagues here is unmatched in my 16 years as a journalist. This publication and this industry is extremely fortunate to have them.

Monthly totals:

January: 9

February: 10

March: 9

April: 9

May: 12