Wegmans is making a push in the effort to help save the environment. They plan to reduce in-store plastic made from fossil fuels by 2 million pounds this year and, by 2024, they seek to eliminate 10 million pounds. In all 98 of their stores, along with their corporate work sites, Wegmans has replaced plastic straws and drink stirrers with renewable fiber alternatives.
Wegmans is not the only company using sustainable materials. While they aren’t replacing plastic used in their products, toy manufacturer Hasbro is taking steps to phase out the use of plastic in their packaging. Their goal for the entire phase-out is to stop using plastic entirely by 2022. As a part of this effort, some of their toys would be unpackaged or wrapped in paper. However, many of their toys would still be made from plastic, though Hasbro is said to be exploring alternate materials.
Hyatt Hotels has also joined in by eliminating the use of plastic straws. They now require hotel guests to request single-use plastic straws and aim to eliminate all straws entirely from all 28,000 locations around the world by 2020. In addition, Royal Caribbean’s 50 cruise ships no longer carry plastic straws and Alaska Airlines pledged to use compostable stir straws on its flights.
Along with these few companies (among many) eliminating and reducing the use of plastics, Taiwan is banning single-use plastic products by 2030 and Scotland and Great Britain have taken similar steps.
