Britain isn’t alone in its efforts.

Prompted as much by environmental imperatives as by China’s sudden refusal to take in vast quantities of garbage for processing, other places have moved against plastic. The European Union has proposed bans on plastic products like single-use drinks containers and sticks for balloons as part of its effort to reduce marine litter by 30 percent by 2020. More than 40 countries around the world have introduced measures to restrict or reduce the use of plastic bags.

[Read how a 9-year-old boy’s statistic shaped a debate on straws here.]

Businesses and other organizations have also taken up the cause. Bacardi has removed straws and stirrers from cocktails at company events. Upmarket supermarket Waitrose, Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and London City Airport, as well as several food and coffee chains, have pledged to get rid of straws and reduce use of plastic. Ikea has committed to removing all single-use plastics from its products and stores by 2020.

Greenpeace, the environmental group, welcomed the move by McDonald’s, but called on the company to implement it worldwide and reduce its use of plastics in other packaging.

“It’s great that McDonalds is taking this seriously, but there’s other things they can be doing,” said Fiona Nicholls, an oceans campaigner at the nonprofit. “They’re putting enormous volumes of plastic waste on the market. People should be able to enjoy a McFlurry, or whatever, without having to think, ‘I’ve just created some pollution.’”