I have two very exciting updates to share with you about our campaigns to stop plastic pollution from McDonald’s and Starbucks. In a nutshell: We’re winning!
McDonald’s ditches plastic straws in the UK!
Yes! You read that right. Just last week, the fast food multinational announced that it would start phasing out plastic straws from its UK restaurants in May!
Since last year, SumOfUs members from all over the world have been urging McDonald’s to ditch plastic straws. More than 388,000 of you have signed the petition, you sent over 21,000 emails to McDonald’s executives, and you shared videos and images on social media thousands upon thousands of times. Thank you!
When we met with McDonald’s lawyers in February, they told us that they had heard your message loud and clear — and now we’re seeing action.
Ditching straws in the UK is a great start, but McDonald’s must roll this out globally, so we are ramping up the pressure.
That’s why a SumOfUs member has put forward a proposal for McDonald’s upcoming annual shareholder meeting, to get McDonald’s shareholders on side too.
This could be our most powerful tactic yet. Can you help make it happen?
Last month SumOfUS members across the world joined in with the ‘Starbucks: break free from plastic’ coalition to pressure the giant coffee chain to make good on its decade old promise to produce a 100% recyclable cup. And you did it!
The campaigning coalition formed ahead of Starbucks’ 2018 annual shareholder meeting in March. In the run-up to the meeting, the coffee giant was urging its shareholders to vote “no” on a proposal asking Starbucks to address its plastic pollution problem put forward by our friends, As You Sow.
And that’s where SumOfUs members like you really started to pile on the pressure.
Over 300,000 of you signed the petition. You emailed and tweeted the company in your thousands. And the day before the meeting, Starbucks suddenly announced it will commit $10 million in a partnership to bring a fully recyclable and compostable cup to market in three years!
Yes, Starbucks has made promises like this before. But it knows that the movement calling on it to break free from plastics is now stronger than ever, with SumOfUs members like you ready to hold it to its promise on cups — and to push it to rid itself of plastics completely.
Time and time again, you’ve stopped giant corporations from carrying on, business as usual, with no regard for the damage they’re causing in pursuit of profits. And you’re already off to a flying start in 2018. Just think what else we’re going to accomplish together this year!
Thanks for all that you do,
Sondhya, Eoin, Tricia and the team at SumOfUs