The final straw: McDonald's to stop providing drinking straws on Aug 1

KUALA LUMPUR: In an effort to reduce plastic waste, chain restaurants around the world have been encouraging customers to stop using plastic straws.

McDonald's Malaysia has also jumped on the bandwagon by introducing a 'Say No To Straws' campaign, starting Aug 1.

Although an official statement has yet to be released by the fast food giant, some branches in Bangsar and Penang have already put up signs informing customers that plastic straws will no longer be provided beginning next month, unless specifically requested at the counter.

If you eat out every day, you will find that plastic straws come with almost every drink, which explains why Malaysians have been said to use about 31 million plastic straws daily.

Although a straw seems minuscule in the world of plastic, it is said that one straw can take up to 200 years to decompose. Multiply that by the amount that Malaysians use daily and the number is no longer as small as we think.

The detrimental impact that plastic leaves on our planet became obvious when a sea turtle was found with a plastic straw stuck up its nostrils here in 2015.

Malaysia has been slowly taking steps towards reducing plastic waste by replacing polystyrene food packaging and plastic bags with recyclable ones.

In 2009, a 'Say No To Plastic Bags' campaign was launched in Penang, when the government required customers to pay 20 sen for each plastic bag used.

Customers were instead encouraged to bring their own recyclable bags when shopping. The initiative was soon implemented in other states around Malaysia.

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