In a brave move announced on Monday (18 Jun), Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Singapore will no longer provide plastic cups and straws for drinks within local stores.
Termed as the ‘No Straws Initiative‘, they hope to reduce 17.8 metric tonnes of “single-use plastics” in a year.
To put that into perspective, that’s like nine 2-tonne elephants worth of plastic, which is frankly quite a lot.
The policy will be extended to 84 outlets across Singapore, beginning on Wednesday (20 Jun).
This basically means, you can expect plastic straws, their dispensers and cups for your drinks to disappear entirely.
Except takeaway drinks, of course.
KFC says that it will continue to offer plastic cups for takeaway drinks only.
We did notice, however, that they’ve been using paper cups with plastic tops for the longest time.
Save for special drinks like Sjora and Pepsi. These variations which accompany set meals, sometimes come with their own branded cups.
Citing the “strain” that single-use plastics place on the environment, KFC wishes to take the first step as an industry leader to effect lasting change.
KFC Singapore is also the first local fast food restaurant to “champion this movement”.
They previously phased out dine-in paper boxes and introduced reusable baskets within outlets in 2016.
Early 2017 saw KFC replacing foam packaging in breakfast platters and porridge bowls with recyclable paper versions.
So this does seem like a bold next step towards going green for the fried chicken giant.
According to them, efforts to reduce their carbon and plastic footprint, seem to be paying off.
As they’ve used 2.5 million less paper packets and 700,000 foam packets within half a year.
KFC added that they’ll be looking into more biodegradable packaging options in the coming year.
Although Singaporeans do seem to love their plastic straws, public reaction to the news has been mostly positive.
We think this is definitely a step in the right direction for fast food chains.
Sacrificing our straws in the hopes of saving the environment is a worthy investment indeed.
Featured image from KFC Singapore.
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