McDonald's has joined the fight against plastic pollution by switching to paper straws at its restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland. 
 
 The change, which will begin to take effect in September, follows trials of paper straws at select locations. The US fast food chain said a majority of its customers supported the move away from plastic. 
 
 "Reflecting the broader public debate, our customers told us they wanted to see a move on straws but to do so without compromising their overall experience when visiting our restaurants," said Paul Pomroy, CEO of McDonald's UK and Ireland. 
 
 McDonald's (MCD) uses 1.8 million straws each day at its 1,361 restaurants in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company said the changeover would be complete in 2019. 
 
 Plastic straws are the sixth most common type of litter globally, according to Litterati, an app that identifies and maps trash. Only 1% are recycled, largely because they are made of a mixture of polypropylene and polystyrene. 
 
 According to the UK government, 1 million birds and more than 100,000 sea mammals die every year from eating or getting tangled in plastic waste. And research shows there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the world's oceans by 2050. 
 
 UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove called on other companies to follow the example of McDonald's. 
 
 "McDonald's has made a significant investment in UK manufacturing to produce an alternative to plastic, showing British businesses are taking a global lead," he said in a statement. 
 
 Several large UK restaurant chains such as Pizza Express and Wagamama have already stopped using plastic straws. 
 
 And a group of more than 40 companies including Coca-Cola (KO), Nestle (NSRGF), Unilever (UL) and Procter & Gamble (PG) pledged earlier this year to slash the amount of plastic they use and throw away in the United Kingdom. 
 
 The flurry of commitments comes as efforts to eliminate single-use plastic intensify. 
 
 The European Union moved last month to ban 10 items -- including plastic cutlery, straws and cotton swabs -- by 2030 in a bid to clean up the oceans. But it could take years to come into effect. 
 
 Related: Europe plans ban on plastic cutlery, straws and more 
 
 In April, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the United Kingdom would look to ban plastic-stemmed cotton swabs, stirrers and straws. She urged Commonwealth countries to commit to the fight against plastic waste at a meeting in London. 
 
 McDonald's said that plastic straws would still be available "for those that require it," but they will be kept behind the counter. 
 
 Some manufacturers have previously argued against the removal of plastic straws because they are needed by some people with disabilities, children and the elderly. 
 
 -- Laura Smith-Spark and Jacopo Prisco contributed to this report. ||||| Image copyright PA Image caption Paper straws will replace the plastic ones 
 
 McDonald's will replace plastic straws with paper ones in all its UK and Ireland restaurants, starting from September. 
 
 It is the latest company to opt out of some single-use plastic products which can take hundreds of years to decompose if not recycled. 
 
 The restaurant chain uses 1.8 million straws a day in the UK. 
 
 "Reflecting the broader public debate, our customers told us they wanted to see a move on straws," the firm said. 
 
 This decision follows a successful trial in selected restaurants earlier this year. The move to paper straws will be completed next year. 
 
 Environment Secretary Michael Gove called it a "significant contribution" to helping the environment, adding that it was "a fine example to other large businesses". 
 
 The ban does not yet extend to the rest of the chain's global empire, but trials will begin in selected restaurants in the US, France and Norway. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Will McCallum on ten ways to cut down on plastics 
 
 In some other countries, straws are being offered on request only. 
 
 In April, the government proposed a ban on plastic straws and cotton buds in England. But many businesses, including Waitrose, Costa Coffee, and Wagamama, have already started to take action. 
 
 All JD Wetherspoon pubs stopped using plastic straws at the beginning of the year. Pizza Express said it would replace all plastic straws with biodegradable ones by summer 2018. 
 
 And more than 60 independent British festivals - including Boardmasters and Bestival - have banned plastic straws as part of a pledge to rid their sites of single-use plastic by 2021. 
 
 Most straws are made from plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene, which unless recycled take hundreds of years to decompose. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Rich Horner filmed himself swimming through rubbish off the island of Nusa Penida near Bali 
 
 Many end up in landfill and the oceans, and the BBC's Blue Planet II highlighted the damage plastic can cause to marine wildlife. 
 
 But not everyone thinks total bans are the answer. 
 
 Plastic straws enable many disabled people to drink independently, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said. She said paper alternatives were not always suitable or safe. 
 
 And Tetra Pak - the food packaging company - has said plastic straws serve a "vital" function in cartons and should not be banned. 
 
 It argues that straws can be recycled together with cartons if they are pushed back into the box. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Plastic pollution is killing animals in the Arctic 
 
 Transcend Packaging in Wales, and Huhtamaki in Belfast, will supply the straws for all 1,361 McDonald's restaurants. 
 
 The straws will use paper from certified sustainable sources, the company said. 
 
 "The government's ambitious plans, combined with strong customer opinion, has helped to accelerate the move away from plastic and I'm proud that we've been able to play our part," said Paul Pomroy, chief executive of McDonald's UK and Ireland. ||||| Fast food giant McDonald's is to move away from using plastic straws in its U.K. and Ireland restaurants. 
 
 In an announcement Friday, the business said it would commence a phased rollout of paper straws in all 1,361 of its sites in the two countries. The transition is set to start in September and will be completed by 2019. 
 
 
 
 "McDonald's is committed to using our scale for good and working to find sustainable solutions for plastic straws globally," Francesca DeBiase, McDonald's executive vice president of global supply chain and sustainability, said in a statement. 
 
 
 
 The business has also started to test alternatives to plastic straws in Belgium. It will do the same later this year in a number of restaurants in the U.S., France, Australia, Norway and Sweden. Tests will also take place in a number of markets, including Malaysia, to offer straws only when they are requested by customers. 
 
 
 
 "We hope this work will support industry wide change and bring sustainable solutions to scale," DeBiase added. 
 
 
 
 The issue of plastic waste is a serious one. Europeans produce 25 million tons of plastic waste per year, according to the European Commission. Less than 30 percent of this is collected for recycling. 
 
 
 
 McDonald's joins a growing number of major companies looking to reduce their use of plastic. In January, U.K. supermarket Iceland, which specializes in frozen food, made a commitment to eliminate plastic packaging from its own brand products by 2023. The same month, bottled water brand Evian said it would produce all its plastic bottles from 100 percent recycled plastic by the year 2025.
– "A move on straws" is afoot across the pond, and McDonald's is driving the push. The fast-food chain is nixing plastic straws and moving to paper in all of its Ireland and United Kingdom restaurants in what the UK's environment secretary calls a "significant contribution" to going green, the BBC reports. Those locations currently use 1.8 million plastic straws per day. The straw switchover will start in September and be fully in place by 2019. The initiative comes after a trial run there, and new paper-straw trials are set for some McDonald's locations in France, Norway, Sweden, Australia, and the US, CNBC notes. CNNMoney notes that, per trash-mapping app Litterati, plastic straws are the sixth most common type of litter in the world. Only about 1% of plastic straws are recycled, and, because of their combination polypropylene-polystyrene makeup, they can take hundreds of years to decompose. Some advocates say plastic straws are safer for certain customers with disabilities, but McDonald's says the plastic versions will still be available upon request "for those that require it."