At the beginning of 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Treatment of Plastic Pollution." This regulation is called the "prohibition order" in the industry.
In July 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and other nine departments issued the "Notice on Solid Promotion of Plastic Pollution Control". Again, by the end of 2020, non-degradable disposable plastic straws will be banned nationwide in the catering industry.
How is the situation now?
On June 30, 2020, McDonald's China announced that from now on, nearly 1,000 restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will be the first to stop using plastic straws, and at the same time fine-tune the design of the cup lid. So you don't need to use a straw.
Starbucks, in more than 4,000 stores in China, has all achieved the ban on plastic straws. On the take-out platform, many catering stores have added the options of "not using plastic straws" and "replace plastic straws with paper straws".
Some brand milk tea shops and coffee shops no longer provide disposable plastic straws. Most of them have replaced paper straws, some have changed to polylactic acid biodegradable straws, and some have been replaced with cup lids that can be consumed directly.
It is forbidden to use disposable plastic straws. New drinking spout lids, eco-friendly paper straws, biodegradable bioplastics/straws/wheat/glass/metal and other recycled products are all good substitutes for non-degradable or non-degradable plastic straws.