The last straw: Some P.E.I. restaurants look to reduce plastic use

When you order a drink at some P.E.I.restaurants,it may arrive without a straw.

It's all part of an international push to reduce the number ofsingle-use plastic straws ending up in the garbage.

The Red Island Hospitality Groupoperates four restaurants in downtown Charlottetown, P.E.I., and arealreadyphasing the straws out.

"We've already begun to roll it out slowly where we ask the guest if they'd like a straw or not," said Steve Barber, co-owner of the Red Island Hospitality Group.

"We will eliminate the ask on the 8th[of April].We'll definitely educate the guests as to why we're doing so and the benefits on not using a plastic straw."

Plastic straws are one of the 12 mostcommonly found items on Canadianshorelines. Restaurants and bars around the world are working hard to reduce the numberused.

"Plastic straws seem very unnecessary in the long run," Barber said.

"More or less the drink tastes the same whether it comes out of the glass or the straw. If we can eliminate such an unnecessary piece of garbage, it would be great to do so."

Barber saidthe decision to stop offering customers straws came after a recent visit to Banff, Alberta, where he had noticed the local #StrawsSuckcampaign hadreally taken off.

If we're not serving as many straws, it is going to cut down on the amount of waste we have. Steve Barber

He decided to make the change at the Group's four restaurants; Hunter's Ale House, Charlottetown Beer Garden and Seafood Patio, The Factory Cookhouse and Dancehall, and John Brown Richmond Street Grille.

Barber said it's an environmental move thatwill some save money.

They plan toeventually use the savings to swap over to the slightly more expensive paper straws, for when customers do request one.

"I mean, clearly, if we're not serving as many straws it is going to cut down on the amount of waste we have," Barber said."It should be fairly significant."

OtherIsland restaurants are alsoplanning a straw freeoperation.

Lobster On the Wharf plans to reduce the number ofstraws they use when they open in May for the summer season.

"Drinks that you might expect to get a straw in, like whether that's a highball glass or whether it's a pop or water, we are not going to serve strawsautomatically," said Steven Larkin, owner of Lobster On the Wharf.

Larkinestimates the seasonal business can go through 15,000 to20,000 straws during the six months of operation.

"It's really an easy way to try and do something to lessen the impact of the businesson the environment."

Larkin saidit wasn't a financial decision but was the right time to do it.

"There are those people who have different sensitivities or maybe they need a straw to drink their beverage in general ... we will just accommodatethat.' StevenLarkin

He said straws would still be available for those drinks that may be difficult to drink without one.

"There are those people who have different sensitivities or maybe they need a straw to drink their beverage in general. We are not going to sit there and question that, you know, we will just accommodatethat."

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