Fast food giant McDonald's is to start phasing out plastic straws from its UK restaurants and says it is "really close" to the point where all its packaging can be recycled.





The company, which has around 1,300 restaurants around the country, will start a trial in May to use paper straws instead of the normal plastic ones.




It will also try out a scheme where straws are kept behind the counter, and only given out to customers on request.

McDonald's has around 3.7 million customers every day, with 90% of the UK population visiting one of its restaurants in the average year.

The announcement was made by McDonald's chief executive Paul Pomroy in an exclusive interview for Sky News.

He said: "Customers have told us that they don't want to be given a straw and that they want to have to ask for one, so we're acting on that.

"Straws are one of those things that people feel passionately about, and rightly so, and we're moving those straws behind the front counter.

"If you come into McDonald's going forward, you'll be asked if you want a straw.

"The other thing we're looking to do is to move to recycled paper on the straws and biodegradable paper straws and that test, I'm really proud to say, will start next month."