Throughout the summer of 2018, giant corporations such as Starbucks and A&W Canada publicly announced that they are planning to gradually phase plastic straws out of their business models, citing the detrimental impact that these single-use products have on the environment at large.
Thompson franchises are not immune from these new policy changes.
On Aug. 15, Boston Pizza announced that all of their locations in Canada are now plastic straw-free, even though they still provide biodegradable straws upon request for seniors, people with disabilities and children’s drinks.
“Boston Pizza’s goal was to eliminate 90 per cent of our straw usage in over 400 locations. Their goal is 24 million less straws in just this year will end up in the ocean or landfills,” said Maggie Dyck, general manager of the local Boston Pizza. “Are there more things they can do? Sure. But it’s all about taking that little first step and going with that.”
So far, Dyck said that her employees haven’t received any negative reactions from their customers over these recent changes.
“I was expecting a lot of resistance or complaints, but I haven’t had anybody be upset,” she said. “And I think social media plays a part in that too. [This story] has been all over social media with other companies as well … so I don’t think people are shocked that companies are starting to move in that direction.”
But Boston Pizza isn’t the only local franchise that’s been affected by this shift in the corporate landscape.
According to local Starbucks manager Lana Bayer, even their small kiosk located in Safeway has been providing customers with reusable straws made of better quality plastic since July 9.
Bayer also revealed that they offered new reusable cups and lids as of that date, but the products quickly sold out and they haven’t received a new shipment since.
Meanwhile, local A&W general manager Jimmy Bauer said he and his employees are ready to abide by the higher-up’s corporate mandate to replace plastic straws with paper models by the end of 2018.
"Reducing waste from landfills is a top priority for A&W and this is one big way that we can make a difference," said Susan Senecal, A&W Canada's president and chief executive officer, in a June 8 press release. "We are proud to make this change, which has been driven by the wishes of our guests, franchisees and staff."
While McDonald’s is currently making the switch to paper straws in Ireland and the United Kingdom, they currently have no concrete plans to bring this policy to North American right now beyond a few limited test markets.
Representatives from Tim Hortons and Subway have remained similarly cryptic when it come to this issue, with the latter only promising to optimise its packaging designs so far.
Manitobans in general will be encountering far fewer plastic straws in the not too distant future.
Representatives from the Recipe Unlimited Corporation, one of Canada’s biggest restaurant companies, recently said that plastic straws will cease to exist at 19 of their brands by March 2019, which includes establishments such as Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, The Keg and Montana’s BBQ and Bar.
Experts say that Canadians alone use about 57 million straws a day and only bother to recycle less than 20 per cent of them.
