Marriott has plans to eliminate all of the plastic straws in its hotels next year. The chain will remove all of the plastic drinking straws as well as plastic drink stirrers from its hotel bars by 2019.
Marriott has said that the decision will eliminate 1 billion straws and 250 million stirrers by July of next year. The company is giving itself a year in order to allow its hotels to run through their existing supply of the straws and look for alternatives. Customers visiting Marriott properties now can request an alternative rather than a plastic straw, should they so choose, NBC News reports.
Marriott is just the latest in a number of businesses that have made the decision to eliminate plastic straws. Both Hilton and Hyatt have said they plan to stop using plastic straws in their hotels by the end of the year. Starbucks and American Airlines have recently made similar promises.
The movement to ban plastic straws gained traction after a viral video showed rescuers removing a straw from a sea turtle’s nose. Plastic drinking straws were also recently made illegal in the city of Seattle and Malibu, California.