Nearly half a million people sign petition urging McDonald’s to stop using plastic straws

More than 450,000 people have signed a petition calling for McDonald’s to stop using plastic straws in the United States.

The fast food giant will consider a proposal later this month that would require the company to conduct a study on the business risks of plastic straws and explore alternatives.

But the company’s board of directors is opposed to the proposal, The Mercury News reported, on the grounds that it could interfere with other efforts to be more eco-friendly by drawing money away from those efforts.

The petition, organized by the group SumOfUs, notes that straws are one of the most commonly found pieces trash in beach cleanups, and calls on McDonald’s to ditch the products in its locations worldwide.

{mosads}“If we can get McDonald’s to ditch its dirty habit we can stop millions of plastic straws clogging up our oceans and killing the animals that live in them,” the petition reads.

McDonald’s agreed earlier this year to stop using plastic straws in the U.K. just weeks before the country’s government said it would implement a ban on them nationwide. 

And the company announced in January that it would commit to using only packaging from renewable, recycled or certified sources in all restaurants by 2025, according to Mercury News.

The anti-plastic movement has prompted some cities, like Seattle and Malibu, Calif., to ban straws, and others to prohibit styrofoam food containers.