Say goodbye to plastic straws. McDonald's is the first major fast-food chain to eliminate plastic straws in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly. The activist group SumOfUs estimates that every day, McDonald's alone dispenses millions of plastic straws that customers soon discard. What happens to those straws? They end up in oceans, ultimately leading to the deaths of many animals.

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McDonald’s will start testing alternatives to plastic straws at select locations in the U.S. starting in September according to Kare11. 

McDonald's executive vice president said they hope this work will support industry-wide change. She told Kare11 “McDonald's is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally."

McDonald's isn't the only big company eliminating plastic straws. According to USA Today, Royal Caribbean has promised to eliminate all plastic straws by the end of this year. Alaska Airlines will phase them out starting in July. Plus, food service giant Bon Appétit Management will stop selling plastic straws by September of next year to their more than 1,000 companies.

A Rochester restaurant eliminated plastic straws earlier this year. To read more, click here.

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