Today, Disney announced their intentions to completely eliminate the use of single-use plastic straws and stirrers globally by mid-2019. This policy will reduce plastic straw use globally by 175 million and plastic stirrer use by 13 million.
Disney also announced their intentions to eliminate or reduce other single-use plastic products in the coming years. These products include plastic shopping bags and transitioning to refillable in-room products.
As part of the reduction of plastic shopping bags, Disney said they will begin offering reusable bags for a nominal fee. Polystyrene cups are currently being phased out and Disney has stated their intention to completely eliminate the use in the coming years.
Here’s how Disney described their focus to environmental conservation:
In fact, since 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has directed more than $70 million to reverse the decline of wildlife around the world. We’ve also reduced our net greenhouse gas emissions by 41 percent in 2017 and diverted nearly 50 percent of waste from landfills and incineration in 2017, making significant progress on our long-term goal of attaining a net zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero waste, while conserving water resources.
Why do companies always brag when they say they are doing something for the environment?
And “greenhouse gases” — please, another global warmist myth.
Looks like we got ourselves a real armchair scientist here! I’m surprised you had time to write this during your break from the fryer at McDonald’s.
Ahh…the virtue signalling is strong with these people.
Especially considering the U.S. contributes 0.9% to the world’s ocean plastic and mishandled plastic waste. Our country isn’t even in the top 10 global polluters when it comes to plastics. We recycle or reuse more than 20% of our plastics and that number is increasing. But never mind. Straws are the enemy. Down with straws.
Nice alt-right buzzword you got there. Shouldn’t you be over at Infowars buying penile enlargement pills?
This whole idea is patently absurd. To believe for a moment that the elimination of plastic straws will somehow lead to a cleaner environment is ridiculous. I was under the impression that WDW used state of the art and environmentally friendly waste disposal. Idiotic plans such as this only takes away attention from other important issues that Disney should promote and force the government into enforcing, such as wealth redistribution and the closing of ICE.
I truly hope you are joking (about wealth redistribution and abolishing ICE) because otherwise, this comment gives me Tucker Carlson Face…
PML has been pushing this tired joke persona for a long time now. Wasn’t funny then, still isn’t funny now. Just ignore him, he’ll get bored and go back to Reddit.
Good to know, thanks.
Sub sea volcanic eruptions are creating an actual new island in the ocean.
Oceans have giant fissures that release thousands of gallons of oil on a daily basis.
But banning a few plastic straws is going save nature.
LOL!!!!
I am sure it save WDW money.
Bingo!
They will do anything to save money
Si
Commenters here seem pretty unhappy about this decision.
Is attachment to plastic straws that strong? If so, why??
Or is it just another chance to whine & cry about Disney?
I very nearly didn’t click on this article because it seemed so unimportant & insignificant.
The right always need something to whine about. Even the removal of straws can upset their snowflake existence. Someone get them a safe space!
Really? Do you feel like a winner because you’re using “their words” against them (and making yourself look truly petty in the process)?
It couldn’t possibly be that it’s a dumb move by a company who should know better than to make knee-jerk decisions based on society’s mob mentality, which in and of itself is based on the “research” of a 9-year old?
Yet you are the dolt that put in the effort to respond to these “snowflakes”. Obviously you were the one triggered by the comments. I would expect nothing less from a cretinous Trump supporter such as yourself.
Do you really think I’d be making fun of conservatives and also vote for Trump? Oh bless your heart, are you recovering from a head injury?
Typical response from a triggered snowflake….mental weakness on full display.
As a personal choice, there are many, MANY, people who prefer to drink their beverages with a straw. Cosmetic reasons (pretty lipstick won’t smudge) or dental issues (sensitive teeth), handicaps (facial abnormalities) or disabilities (must bring mouth to cup, not vice versa, because I have no hands).
As a business choice, I applaud Disney for making a choice to help the planet, but this truly seems like virtue signalling. As Ryebread on Cheese stated, only .9% of the ocean plastic and mishandles plastic waste is the fault of USA. Even if the USA became 100% trash-free, there would still be 91.1% plastic trash in the ocean because of other countries! It’s like saying “We want to eliminate ALL gasoline consumption in the world, so let’s stop driving Ford Tauruses in America.” It won’t help, it will not even make a dent in things.
Switching to paper straws seems just as silly because it’s not any more environmentally friendly, trees will have to be cut down for these, and frankly, they are gross because the tip gets soggy from your saliva, and the entire straw dissolves too quickly because of the drink. Most people who choose to carry around beverages with them would need multiple straws (to replace soggy straws), which is wasteful and not environmentally friendly either.
A better choice for places like Disney is to ignore this latest Virtue Signalling Bandwagon, and instead focus on bigger things, like the amount of plastic waste in terms of soda and water BOTTLES. I would love to know how many bottles of soda/water/powerade/smartwater/whatever they sell in a DAY and how many of those bottles are actually thrown into the recycle cans. Discontinuing just selling water would be a huge change, especially if Disney opted to install those newfangled (yeah, newfangled) water fountain-bottle filler combo machines (like at Flight of Passage queue).
But then I guess Disney and Coca-Cola wouldn’t make the big bucks…
I’m just annoyed because the paper straws at Animal Kingdom are god-awful. They collapse in the liquid so quick and after 5 minutes they’re just a pile of mush. In order for this initiative to work, they need a higher quality paper straw. I specially don’t buy drinks at Animal kingdom because I can’t drink it well.
what will Disney do to me if I bring my own straws & if asked by another family share them ?