More Businesses Ditch Plastic Straws, Bags

Ikea, Royal Caribbean and SeaWorld are the latest companies to say they will ban plastic bags and straws from their properties.

June 13, 2018

ORLANDO, Fla. – Three major companies will stop using plastic bags and straws on their properties. Ikea, Royal Caribbean and SeaWorld will all remove plastic bags and straws, the Washington Post reports.

SeaWorld Entertainment said that “all single-use plastic drinking straws and single-use plastic bags” have been removed from its dozen theme parks. Interim CEO John Reilly said it was “a testament to our mission to protect the environment, the ocean and animals … which are currently threatened by unprecedented amounts of plastic pollution.”

Royal Caribbean Cruises’ 50 ships, including Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, “will ring in 2019 free of plastic straws. … For over a year now, RCL ships have begun implementing a straws upon request policy,” a statement says. “That program will be taken a step further by the start of 2019, when guests requesting a straw will receive a paper straw instead of a plastic one.”

Within two years, Ikea stores will stop giving customers plastic straws and bags. In the future, the furniture store “will design all products from the very beginning to be repurposed, repaired, reused, resold and recycled,” according to Lena Pripp-Kovac, sustainability manager.

Starting July 1, Seattle will be the biggest U.S. locality to prohibit plastic silverware and straws in restaurants. The California General Assembly also is considering a proposal that would forbid plastic bags and straws across the state.

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