In support of its ongoing CSR commitment to reduce waste, leading independent pub company Punch intend to diminish, and ultimatelyeliminate, the use of plastic straws across its 70-strong retail pub estate. Punch will also encourage its circa 1,200 leased and tenanted pubs to follow suit.
Initially, Punch has committed to no longer serve customers, unless requested, drinks with a plastic straw. The straws will also be removed from customer view to reduce usage.
The pub company are also researching suitable recyclable, and re-usable, alternatives which it hopes to introduce in due course.
Punch’s Managing Director of Operations, Paul Pavli explains: “Plastic straws can take a shocking 500 years to decompose and generally end up in landfill, or make their way into our oceans where they can harm sea life.
“Alongside a number of our peers in the industry, we are absolutely committed to reducing the use of damaging plastic straws in our retail pubs. We will also be encouraging our circa 1200 leased and tenanted Publicans to join the campaign and benefit from training material and POS to make consumers aware of this very important cause.”
Punch fully supports national campaigns aiming to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic straws and will be proactively campaigning on social media using #thefinalstraw.
