NEW YORK: Starbucks says it will eliminate plastic straws from its stores globally by 2020, a nod to the growing push for businesses to be more environmentally friendly.
The Seattle-based company said Monday it will instead use straws made from other materials, and lids designed not to need straws. McDonald’s also recently said it would switch to paper straws in the United Kingdom and Ireland by next year, and test alternatives to plastic straws in some US locations.
Environmental activists have been pressuring businesses to ditch plastic straws because they can end up in the ocean and hurt marine life. The push gained traction after a viral video in 2015 showed rescuers removing a straw from a sea turtle’s nose in graphic detail.
Local governments have also been looking at the issue. Last week, Seattle’s ban on single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service outlets took effect, and Starbucks says it already offers alternative straws there. Similar proposals are being considered elsewhere, including New York and San Francisco.
While straws have become a high-profile issue, they make up only about 4 percent of the plastic trash by number of pieces, and far less by weight. Straws add up to only about 2,000 tons of the nearly 9 million tons of plastic waste that hits waters a year.
Still, those who support limiting plastic straws say they are generally unnecessary and a ban is good symbol.
Starbucks to stop offering plastic straws by 2020
Starbucks to stop offering plastic straws by 2020
Reddit files lawsuit against Australia’s social media ban
SYDNEY: Message board website Reddit on Friday filed a lawsuit asking the High Court to overturn Australia’s social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.
The US-listed firm, which has operations in Australia, called the ban “invalid on the ground that it infringes the implied freedom of political communication,” in a court filing signed by its lawyers, Perry Herzfeld and Jackson Wherrett.
The filing named the Commonwealth of Australia and Communications Minister Anika Wells as defendants. A spokesperson for Wells was not immediately available for comment, although the Australian government has said it is ready to fight any legal challenges to the law.
Two days earlier, Australia went live with the world’s first legally enforced age minimum to access social media. Reddit and nine other platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube and TikTok campaigned against the measure for more than a year before ultimately saying they would comply.
The platforms are required to bar underage users or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million , while underage users and their caregivers do not face punishment. Platforms say they are using measures like age inference, based on a person’s online activity, and age estimation, based on a selfie, to follow the rule.
But the law “carries some serious privacy and political expression issues for everyone on the Internet,” Reddit said in a statement published alongside its court filing. “So, we are filing an application to have the law reviewed.” The lawsuit makes a second High Court challenge to the ban. Last month, two teenagers backed by an Australian libertarian state lawmaker filed a challenge which has a hearing in February.
Reddit has no plans to join other parties challenging the ban, a person familiar with the situation said.
