Pernod Ricard bans plastic straws and stirrers

Pernod Ricard is the latest global drinks producer to lead calls for an end to the use of plastic straws and stirrers, banning them within all parts of its business worldwide, and is encouraging its affiliates to do the same.

Bacardi was among the first to call time on plastic straws and stirrers, banning their use across its events in 2016 in an effort to reduce waste as part of its ‘Good Spirited’ campaign.

In June of last year, UK bar chain All Bar One pledged to phase out the use of plastic straws across all of its venues as part of its #strawssuck campaign.

Shortly after, Wetherspoon also said it would be bringing an end to its use of plastic straws across its 900 pubs in the UK and Republic of Ireland by the end of 2017.

Plastic straws, like all plastic items, are incredibly damaging to the environment with a single straw taking 500 years to decompose. It also prevents the risk of them ending up in the ocean, where straws are the fifth most popular item of rubbish.

“We believe that small acts have a big impact – and that is why Pernod Ricard has decided to stop using non-biodegradable plastic straws and stirrers in any part of its business,” it announced in a press release this morning.

“Kicking off the year with concrete resolutions, the group has asked all its affiliates globally to ensure they are not used at any Pernod Ricard events in the future, as has been the case since the run up to the holiday season.”

Pernod Ricard attributed the use of plastic straws in part of the “rebirth of cocktails”, noting an explosion in their usage to adorn glasses over the past few decades. The group acknowledged the harmful impact of plastic straws, which while used on average for just 20 minutes, will take hundreds of years to decompose, and even then not fully disintegrate.

As part of its 2020 Roadmap, Pernod Ricard aims to reduce its waste to landfills from 913 tons today to 0 by 2020.