Instead of sipping your crisp McDonald’s Diet Coke through a straw, you might soon drink it with a strawless lid.
McDonald’s began testing a strawless lid for its drinks in the Minneapolis area along with select U.S. locations. A McDonald’s representative told Restaurant Business that the hamburger chain is looking at ways to reduce waste and eliminate plastic.
The new lid features a tab that a person would pull back before they sip on the drink. The cup pictured with soda inside on Restaurant Business is all-plastic (not the stereotypical paper cups) and the lid with the tab. McDonald’s wouldn’t be the first restaurant to make the switch to strawless lids.
In September 2020, Starbucks said that it was debuting strawless lids as part of its sustainability efforts. The company said, “The lid was modeled after the lid customers recognize from Starbucks hot drinks and has approximately nine percent less plastic than the flat lid and straw historically used for iced beverages.”
This move by McDonald’s in the U.S. differs from previous testing in the U.K. The Golden Arches restaurant started using paper straws in the U.K. in 2018, according to Business Insider. These paper straws were the subject of controversy due to some initial reports of them dissolving in water.
Experts have said that plastic straws are a small part of the waste problem and getting rid of them should be seen as the first step, not the last one.
Jim Leape, co-director of the Stanford Center for Ocean Solutions, said in a Q&A published in Stanford Earth Matters magazine, “Plastic straws are only a tiny fraction of the problem — less than 1 percent. The risk is that banning straws may confer ‘moral license’ — allowing companies and their customers to feel they have done their part.”