McDonald's Could Finally Be Ditching Plastic Straws For Good

McDonald's Happy Meals are replacing plastic toys with renewable materials. Now, the global fast food company wants to eliminate plastic straws to improve sustainability.

Don't give up on satisfying your thirst before your next Big Mac without soda. Mickey D's is experimenting strawless lids to replace plastic

The redesigned lids include a pullout tab for easy sipping and no spillage instead of a straw opening. For convenient, dry transport

the tab holds the top closed before pulling it. A half-moon sipping opening appears when the tab is pulled.

"McDonald's is currently testing strawless lids for our cold beverages in select U.S. markets," a spokeswoman told Restaurant Business. "These

lids help optimize our packaging and eliminate the use of small plastics, just one example of the many solutions we're reviewing as part of our ongoing global 

New lids are being tried in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Restaurant Business notes that some participating stores now require customers

to request plastic straws. RB tested it earlier this week in Minneapolis and was given a straw without asking.

In recent years, McDonald's has become more environmentally friendly. Starbucks replaced plastic straws with recyclable lids in 2020. 

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