Japan’s Skylark Holdings to Ditch Plastic Straws by 2020

August 17, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese restaurant chain operator Skylark Holdings Co. will get rid of disposable plastic straws at all of its group outlets by 2020, officials said Thursday.

Skylark will stop distributing plastic straws by the end of this year at its Gusto restaurant chain, which has the largest number of outlets in the country among the group companies.

The group will also stop using plastic straws at other restaurant chains, such as Bamiyan and Jonathan's.

Skylark is believed to be the first major Japanese restaurant operator to adopt the policy of stopping the use of plastic straws.

Moves to ban plastic straws among U.S. and other foreign companies have reached Japan, industry sources said.

Gusto has 1,368 outlets in Japan and consumes some 60 million plastic straws annually. But the chain has yet to find an alternative to the existing plastic straws.

It will continue to provide straws to customers who need them, including children and people with disabilities. Jiji Press