Mcdonald’s, Starbucks in Japan Move Away from Paper Straws Amid Customer Dissatisfaction

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, January 6, 2026

Food service companies are reevaluating their use of paper straws.

While the move to switch to paper straws from plastic ones for environmental reasons was popular at first, complaints about paper straws, such as their usability, began to emerge.

Companies are now seeking an alternative that is still environmentally friendly, such as a product that is made using plant-based materials.

In November, McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd. stopped providing paper straws for cold drinks and shifted to strawless lids, which have a spout through which people can drink. These lids are made using recycled plastic from plastic bottles, reducing the use of petroleum-based raw materials.

The company began using paper straws in 2022, but it received such complaints as the straws “absorbed liquid” and that it made the drink taste bad.

“We focused on making it easy to drink through,” said a company official involved in introducing the new lids. “We also wanted something environmentally friendly.”

Starbucks Coffee Japan, Ltd. made the switch from paper straws, which had been provided since 2020, to straws made from biomass-based plastic in January 2025.

Mos Food Services, Inc., which operates the Mos Burger hamburger restaurant chain, has been providing straws containing 30% biomass-based plastic and that are 1 centimeter shorter since 2020. After testing paper straws in some stores, Mos Food Services received negative feedback about their texture. The company has decided not to introduce paper straws.

Cases of plastic waste being found inside sea turtles and fish started becoming more reported around 15 years ago, sparking a global movement to rethink the use of plastic products.

In Japan, a law requiring convenience stores and restaurants to formulate plans to reduce plastic products came into effect in 2022. Amid this, paper straws were introduced as an alternative to plastic ones, as paper straws are said to decompose faster than plastic ones.

However, efforts to introduce paper straws have slowed. For example, in February 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the promotion of paper straws, calling it an “irrational campaign.”

“While it is important to consider the environmental impacts, as straws go directly into a person’s mouth, they must not cause discomfort,” said Kitaro Yamamoto, an associate professor of Kanazawa Seiryo University and an expert of scientific literacy, adding that corporate efforts are important.