McDonald’s is facing backlash after it opted to ditch plastic straws in favor of paper straws in an effort to be more environmentally friendly.
Consumers are furious after the Golden Arches’ efforts to do “the right thing” by rolling out paper straws as an eco-friendlier alternative to its plastic straws at its 1,361 restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland turned out to be a disaster, with many reporting that the new straws “dissolve” while in use.
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Hordes of former McDonald’s fans have now taken to social media to criticize the switch and demand that the chain reverts to plastic straws until a better alternative is offered.
Seriously @McDonaldsUK I’m all up for saving the turtles but who passed these straws as suitable for your milkshakes?? Falling to bits before we’ve even seen any dairy. Poor show. pic.twitter.com/oCn17bziD0
— Chris Mills (@Millsybaby) April 19, 2019
Many have begged the question of “what good is a straw” when it is all but unusable once placed in liquid.
@McDonalds what good is a straw when its made of cardboard and becomes unusable.. yh trying to recycle etc but this is not tue way to go pic.twitter.com/kL4HieV8pd
— Brian Larmour (@sirusdavirus87) April 24, 2019
The outrage has even prompted a petition to be created urging McDonald’s to switch back to plastic, with petition creator Martin Reed stating that the importance is “so I can drink my milkshake proper.” Created just over a week ago, the petition already has more than 35,000 signatures, with many commenting with their own reasoning for signing.
“Absolutely useless, they get soggy and end up giving off a cardboard taste to the drink you have, no point in having a paper straw with a plastic lid, much rather have a paper lid and a plastic straw,” one person wrote.
“The appear straw are t working its impossible to drink a milkshake and they just go soggy. There are many alternatives which could be used instead,” another added.
The beloved fast food chain had announced in June of 2018 that it would be making the switch at its locations in United Kingdom and Ireland, and eventually here in the United States, as they are “committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally.”
The chain also cited growing pressure to make their not-so-eco-friendly packaging more sustainable.
“Customers have told us that they want to have to ask for a straw, so we’re acting on that and moving them behind the counter,” Paul Pomroy, CEO of McDonald’s U.K., said. “Together with our customers, we can do our bit for the environment and use fewer straws.”
The chain has also announced intentions to make all of its customer packaging come from renewable, recycled, or certified sources by 2025, with an additional aim of having recycling available in all restaurants.
