Major Pub Chain Turns To British Recycled Plastic for Solution to Plastic Problem

You may have seen in the news that JD Wetherspoon, one of the UK’s biggest and best-recognised pub chains, recently decided to remove plastic straws from all of its 900+ outlets in the UK. This is, of course, wonderful news for the many natural environments which are threatened by the choking presence of waterborne plastics, but it left them with a problem: what to do with all the unused straws in their warehouse? For a while it seemed like landfill would be the only option, but then an alternative was suggested; what about reusing them to make something useful? In fact, how about pub garden tables?

The raw material: black plastic straws originally destined to end up in landfill or, worse, oceans and rivers.

The raw material: black plastic straws originally destined to end up in landfill, oceans and rivers.

The Boss heard there would be beer…

Of course outdoor recycled furniture is our forte and we like an opportunity to keep pubs happy (you never know how they might show their gratitude), and so it seemed a match made in heaven. Our Managing Director Jason offered to escort them personally to be ground up to make new plastic lumber. We reckon he’s just angling for a pint on the house, but either way he got the job done, and even managed to film the whole process. You can see him and the straws in action here on our Youtube channel. Perhaps you could even give us a ‘like and subscribe’ as the vloggers say?

Recycled plastic picnic tables, ideal for pub beer gardens.

The finished product: recycled plastic picnic tables, ideal for pub beer gardens.

If you’d like to know more about recycled plastic picnic tables, you can find our range here.