Coffee giant Costa Malta bids farewell to over 350,000 plastic straws

Costa Coffee has stopped using plastic drinking straws in all of its 12 stores across Malta, in a bid to cut down on single-use plastic and help conserve the environment.

The popular coffee house has introduced straws made of an eco-friendly ‘green’ material known as bio-plast, now only available with certain drinks or by request – as opposed to being added to all customer condiment units as standard.

Made from a thermoplastic material that primarily contains biologically-sourced raw materials, the bio-plast straws are fully eco-certified, as well completely biodegradable and compostable. 

The environmentally-focused change comes as Costa Malta seeks to cut the amount of avoidable plastic waste it generates.

“We estimate that, by making these changes at Costa, we will save the environment from having to accommodate between 350,000 and 400,000 single-use plastic straws every year. That’s huge,” said Christina Galea, Costa Malta general manager.

“We’re really pleased we are able to potentially make such a huge impact with such a seemingly small change – and we hope we can inspire our customers to do the same in terms of avoiding single-use plastic.”

The plastic straws shake-up is just one of many ways in which Costa Malta hopes to steadily reduce its use of single-use plastic throughout the franchise. The coffee company’s commitment to helping to save the environment is part of the bigger picture of the work of its charity, The Costa Foundation.

The Costa Foundation aims to improve the lives of children in coffee-growing communities by ensuring safe, quality education, with a long-term goal of eradicating poverty in these communities.