Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 10 July 2018
Starbucks, citing ocean threat, is ditching plastic straws

By CANDICE CHOI Meal boxes and other practices may be the diffi-
AP Food Industry Writer packaging by 2025. culty in securing adequate
NEW YORK (AP) — Star- Starbucks notes the cups supplies.
bucks will eliminate plastic for its cold drinks are made Imperial Dade, a food ser-
straws from all of its loca- from recyclable materials. vice and janitorial supplies
tions within two years, the Plastic drinking straws make distributor based in New
coffee chain announced up only about 4 percent Jersey, says it's seen a huge
Monday, becoming the of plastic trash by number spike in demand for al-
largest food and beverage of pieces, and far less by ternative straws in recent
company to do so as calls weight. months.
for businesses and cities to Straws add up to about "Our biggest challenge is
cut waste grow louder. 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 trying to locate alternative
While the straws account million tons of plastic waste sources so we can satisfy
for a small percentage that ends up in waters the demand," said Laura
of the pollution that ends around the globe each Craven, the company's di-
up in the ocean, they've year. rector of marketing.
become a flashpoint be- Still, the advocacy group Craven also said she's start-
cause they're seen as an This March 24, 2018, file photo shows a sign in a Starbucks in 5 Gyres notes that the top ing to see more awareness
easy way to reduce waste. downtown Pittsburgh. Starbucks is getting rid of plastic straws at five biggest sources of sin- about the need for exemp-
"There are several of these its locations around the world. gle-use plastic are plastic tions for straws that bend,
single-use items the public Associated Press bags, water bottles, to-go which people with disabili-
is realizing, hey, we don't The company already of- company boardrooms. containers, to-go cups and ties and others may need.
actually need these," said fers alternative straws in Se- In February, Dunkin' Donuts straws. Starbucks says it expects an
Denise Hardesty, a scientist attle. said it would eliminate poly- Other plastic items have alternative it has to work in
with Australia's Common- Other cities, like Fort My- styrene foam cups from its also been targeted in re- that regard.
wealth Scientific and Indus- ers Beach in Florida, have stores by 2020. cent years. The strawless lids will begin
trial Research Organisation banned plastic straws, McDonald's said it would Several local governments to appear in Seattle and
who studies plastic pollu- and similar proposals are switch to paper straws in have enacted bans and Vancouver Starbucks this
tion. being considered in New the United Kingdom and fees on plastic bags. Reus- fall, with phased rollouts
A week after its hometown York and San Francisco. Ireland by next year and able water bottles have within the U.S. and Canada
of Seattle banned plastic The push to ban the straws test alternatives to plastic also gained popularity as a next year.
drinking straws and uten- gained traction after a vi- straws in some U.S. loca- way to reduce use of plas- A global rollout of straw-
sils, Starbucks said Mon- ral video in 2015 showed tions. tic water bottles, with refill- less lids will follow, begin-
day that by 2020, it will use rescuers removing a straw The burger chain also said ing water stations popping ning in Europe, where they
straws made from biode- from a sea turtle's nose in this year it would use only up on college campuses will be used in some stores
gradable materials such graphic detail. recycled or other environ- and elsewhere. in France and the Nether-
as paper and specially de- The issue of waste more mentally friendly materials One reason big chains say lands, as well as in the Unit-
signed lids. broadly is coming up in for its soda cups, Happy it will take time to change ed Kingdom.q

Management shift begins at U.S.
nuclear weapons lab

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — months. atomic bomb. The federal
The U.S. government on Made up of Ohio-based government opted to put
Monday cleared the way Battelle Memorial Institute, the contract up for bid fol-
for a new management Texas A&M University and lowing missed goals and
team to begin taking over the University of California, a string of safety lapses
one of the nation’s top nu- the management team involving the handling of
clear weapons laboratories was announced as the plutonium and radioactive
as it looks to rebuild its repu- winning bidder in June of a waste.
tation. coveted $2.5 billion-a-year The University of California
The National Nuclear Secu- contract to manage the on Monday touted the sci-
rity Administration issued an northern New Mexico lab. entific work done at the lab
official notice to proceed The University of California over the decades — from its
to Triad National Security has played a key manage- role in the Human Genome
LLC , marking the begin- ment role at the lab since Project to experiments
ning of a transition at Los it was created as part of in nuclear medicine and
Alamos National Laborato- a top-secret effort during work on renewable energy
ry that will take about four World War II to build the and climate change.q