Energy & Environment

Whole Foods to stop offering plastic straws

by Justin Wise 05/20/19 04:01 PM CDT

Whole Foods is preparing to stop offering plastic straws at any of its 500 stores.

The company, which is owned by Amazon, announced on Monday that by July it would no longer sell plastic straws in its stores in the U.S., Canada and United Kingdom, according to CNN.

{mosads}The move marks the first time a national grocery chain has taken the step to ditch plastic straws. It also comes more than 10 years after the company stopped offering disposable plastic bags for customers.

Whole Foods will offer paper straws at its juice and coffee bars starting in July, though CNN noted that plastic straws will be available upon request for customers with disabilities.

In addition, Whole Foods will start selling smaller plastic bags in its produce department. And the company said it would replace hard plastic cases for rotisserie chickens with bags that use 70 percent less plastic.

“We recognize that single-use plastics are a concern for many of our customers, Team Members and suppliers, and we’re proud of these packaging changes, which will eliminate an estimated 800,000 pounds of plastics annually,” Whole Foods’s chief merchandising officer, AC Gallo, said in a statement to CNN.

Whole Foods’s decision to stop offering plastic bags comes as businesses and cities around the globe make a more concerted push to be environmentally conscious.

Miami Beach, Fla., and Seattle have enacted bans on plastic straws over concerns about ocean pollution. Ikea announced last year that it would stop selling selling single-use plastic in its locations and that the products would be completely phased out by 2020.