SHAH ALAM: All food and beverage outlets including restaurants in Selangor are prohibited from providing plastic straws at the counter to be freely picked up by customers from July 1.

Plastic straws would only be given at the request of the customer for each drink that was ordered, said state Environment, Green Technology, Science and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian.

He said the implementation of the policy on reducing the use of the plastic straws was approved by the state exco on Wednesday.All local authorities will in­clude the ban in the terms of business licence application when restaurant operators submit new applications or renew their business licence.

“The main objective of this policy is to educate and increase the level of awareness among residents in Selangor on the long-term impact of the use of plastic, particularly plastic straws on health and the environment.

“The implementation of this policy is expected to help the government to control the increasingly significant environmental pollution and encourage recycling or reuse to maintain environmental cleanliness in Selangor,” he said.

Hee explained that the policy was in line with the government’s intention to reduce the use of single-use plastics such as plastic bags, polystyrene, coverings or plastic food coatings, disposable plastic materials and so on.

The state government, through the local councils, would monitor the implementation of the policy and all food and beverage outlet operators were urged to provide cooperation and assistance in order to achieve the objective of reducing the use of plastic in the state, he said.He said the state government was thankful that many food and beverage outlet operators had already implemented such initiatives to reduce the use of plastic including no longer providing plastic straws to consumers automatically.

“In fact, there are also food, beverage and restaurant premises using paper or bamboo straws and distributing free stainless steel straws to the public and so on,” he said.“Therefore, the public are also encouraged to bring their own reusable drink containers and straws.”

Hee said the state government would always step up efforts to ensure that Selangor become a cleaner, beautiful, green and environmentally friendly state.

He also encouraged the public to give suggestions and views on the implementation of the campaign and policy regarding plastic use to any department and government agency besides contacting the exco office for the purpose.

“Every proposal or opinion will be given consideration and studied so that this government’s campaign or policy will be successful,” he said. — Bernama