30,000 people sign petition calling for McDonald’s to bring back plastic straws

The US giant has been rolling out paper straws to all of its 1,361 restaurants in the country over recent months.

The McDonald’s in Fratton has recently replaced its plastic straws with the more eco-friendly paper ones.

Following the announcement that the fast-food chain would be moving away from single-use plastic, environment secretary Michael Gove said: ‘Congratulations to McDonald’s on making this significant contribution to help our natural environment.

‘We want more companies to say no to unnecessary single use plastics.

‘Through our 25 Year Environment Plan we have committed to eliminating avoidable plastic and we will continue to take decisive action to protect our precious environment.’

However customers are not happy with the change to paper straws and a petition has been launched calling for McDonald’s to bring back the plastic ones.

Martin Reed launched the online campaign, writing: ‘Get rid on the waste of time paper straws.

‘So I can drink my milkshake proper.’

The petition has so far been signed by 33,890 people since being launched last week.

One person wrote: ‘Absolutely useless, they get soggy and end up giving off a cardboard taste to the drink you have, no point in having a paper straw with a plastic lid, much rather have a paper lid and a plastic straw.’

While another added: ‘The straws are not working for drinking, they should consider bio degradable plastic straws made from natural products. It is do able.

‘I personally hate the paper straws as they leave a weird film on my teeth. I'm offering an alternative to the plastic and paper straws.’

Explaining why they had signed the petition, one person said: ‘My son with sensory issues can't use the paper straws and gets very upset and they just bend and dissolve.’

You can learn more about the petition by clicking here