Vancouver test market as Starbucks rolls out options to banish plastics

VANCOUVER —    Vancouver and Seattle are two leading test markets as coffee giant Starbucks rolls out its strawless options.

     Starbucks has just announced it will eliminate plastic straws and utensils from all of its locations by 2020, switching to biodegradable materials like paper straws or specially designed lids.

     Those lids will be available in all of the company’s Vancouver and Seattle outlets by this fall — and phased rollouts across Canada and the U-S will be underway by next year.

     Vancouver says plastic straws, foam cups and other single-use items will be banned across the city by next June and Seattle announced a similar ban last week. Many communities are starting to look at the idea of banning single-use plastic items such as cups, straws, bags and utensils.