Today’s post is written by Heather Powell, Manager of Major Accounts and Special Projects at SafeSourcing Inc.
McDonald’s announced this week that by 2020 all of the UK will use paper straws. In the US McDonald’s will be test alternative straws to the plastic version. Sea World already uses paper straws and has eliminated plastic shopping bags and A&W in Canada will offer paper straws only by the end of this year.
So why all the “sudden” changes? As you may know, even though oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth, humans have dumped so much plastic into them that animals such as pilot whales are dying from consuming it. By 2050, according to a prediction from the MacArthur Foundation, there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans unless something drastically changes in the meantime. Also, this past spring, reports came out that over 83% of our bottled water contains plastic particles.1
Laws are changing globally to combat the single-use/disposable crisis to our environment. For example; styrofoam cups are banned in California and California is also looking to make new laws to include plastic straws.
Our landfills are filling up with plastics such as water bottles, coffee pods, ziplock bagies, cereal bags, and many more items that typically don’t get recycled. Think back to what you have thrown away in the past 24 hours, how much of it was a plastic that couldn’t be recycled?
What are your business practices to emlinate or reduce your use of single-use plastics? Have you looked at alternative products? Long term what are your company goals to reduce waste or your carbon footprint?
SafeSourcing offers a wide variety of business solutions to your purchasing needs and one of those solutions is research and market changes. We at SafeSourcing can do the leg work for you to find alternatives and give the current market pricing and fluctuating market trends.
Are you interested in more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program for RFPs and RFQs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.
We look forward to your comments.
References:———————————————————————————————————
- https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/mcdonalds-plastic-straws-phasing-out-uk-britain.html