Live Nation to Eliminate Plastic Straws at Outdoor Venues
If you're attending a concert at an amphitheater owned by Live Nation this summer, you may notice a slight change if you order a beverage. The company has partnered with an environmental organization called the Lonely Whale to remove all single-use plastic straws from their 45 venues in the U.S.
In its place, according to Pollstar, will be a paper straw that that the Lonely Whale says will help reduce the more than 10 million metric tons of plastic that enter the ocean every year. Live Nation estimates that 3 million plastic straws are used at their outdoor venues annually. The Lonely Whale has created a campaign called For a Strawless Ocean, complete with a toolkit that you can download and a #stopsucking hashtag, to create “market-based change on behalf of our oceans."
“The ocean belongs to all of us and everyone deserves access to tools that empower us to keep our ocean free of plastic pollution,” actor Adrian Grenier (Entourage), who co-founded the Lonely Whale and serves as an Environment Goodwill Ambassador to the U.N., said. “The For a Strawless Ocean toolkit allows anyone to take the torch from Lonely Whale, and all of those who have come before us, to create independent waves of change For a Strawless Ocean.”
The group estimates that, if no action is taken, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. You can learn more about the initiative and get discounts on alternative to single-use plastic straws on its website.
Earlier this year, England's prestigious Glastonbury Festival announced that, beginning in 2019, plastic bottles will not be allowed onsite, with attendees being encouraged to use stainless steel bottles instead. Vendors at the grounds have already switched to reusable or compostable plates and utensils.