Plastic straws can be great for the people who want them, but why hand one out to everybody? By simply giving out straws only when requested, Applebee's, the largest sit down restaurant chain in the US, could divert over 180 MILLION non-recyclable plastic straws from our landfills, communities, and waterways.

Applebee's has an opportunity to be a leader in the industry. On their website, they says, "A number of our environmental programs focus on reducing waste generated by our operations. We continue to look for ways to eliminate, reuse or recycle potential waste." We're asking the company to follow its own advice!

It's a simple ask which requires no infrastructure, no expense, and no negative impact to the corporation but would make a huge impact in our communities. If Applebee's could divert the amount of straws they hand out by 50%, it would eliminate 183,729,000 plastic straws per year from our neighborhoods, landfills, and oceans.

The simple, but important goal of this petition is to convince Applebee's to put a written policy in place that they will only give straws to those who want one!

The Math

* There are 2,019+ Applebee's stores

* The average store sees 500+ customers a day

* If Applebee's can reduce the amount of straws they distribute by 50% (we think they can do much better) by simply giving them out when customers ask, they'd divert:

Daily: 504,750 straws

Weekly: 3,533,250 straws

Monthly: 15,310,750 straws

Yearly: 183,729,000 straws

The Organization

My name is Jonathan. I started The 1:1 Movement as a community based organization focused on developing the educational and action-based programming to make our communities cleaner, greener, healthier, and more sustainable. Learn more about us at The 1:1 Movement. And 1:1 on Facebook! Thanks for your help.

Photo Credit: Danielle Richardet