In an effort to keep plastic straws from winding up in bodies of water, A&W restaurants all over Canada are replacing them with biodegradable paper straws.
Paper straws will biodegrade when tossed out in three to six months and will usually last two to three hours in a beverage before breaking down.
Restaurants will start converting this August, and all of the A&W locations will be switched over by January 2019.
This will prevent approximately 82 million plastic straws from winding up in bodies of water and landfill sites yearly.