Ohsho Food Service Corp., the operator of the Gyoza no Ohsho chain of Chinese-style restaurants, said Tuesday it will stop supplying customers with single-use plastic straws and spoons at all of its 729 restaurants from July to address environmental concerns.
From July 1, the chain, which serves fried dumplings and other dishes, will introduce in stages biodegradable straws in stores and spoons made of biomass plastics for takeout dishes, the Kyoto-based company said.
Takeout accounts for around 17 percent of sales at Ohsho stores and the company aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching from fossil-fuel-derived plastic straws and spoons.
Skylark Holdings Co., another major firm in the restaurant industry, said in August last year it will ban plastic straws at all of its restaurants by 2020 in an effort to address marine pollution from plastic waste.
As a first step, plastic straws at all of its 1,367 Gusto restaurants were replaced by biodegradable ones as of December, according to the company.
