The Last Straw: Top restaurants Zuma and ROKA to stop using plastic straws in weeks

The group behind Japanese restaurants ROKA and Zuma signed up to the Standard’s Last Straw campaign today by committing to go plastic straw-free in weeks.

The Azumi Group, which owns Zuma in Knightsbridge and four ROKA restaurants in central London, is the latest major signing for our campaign to get all businesses in the capital to replace plastic straws with green alternatives.

Their other restaurant, Oblix in the Shard, is also set to go plastic straw-free by the end of next month.

The group has been “slowly moving away” from plastic straws across all its sites after figures showed it used three million a year.

The initiative was kickstarted by its Zuma Hong Kong location a year ago. Sven Koch, CEO of the Azumi Group, said: “All of our restaurant locations will be plastic straw-free by March 2018. We are also making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of beverages we serve with biodegradable straws.

“As an industry we need to do our bit to help reduce the amount of plastic waste and this campaign is a major first step that we’re thrilled to be a part of.”

High street Japanese restaurant chain Itsu has also committed to being completely plastic straw-free by Spring 2018. The brand has begun phasing out plastic straws from all 73 stores across the UK, replacing them with a biodegradable paper version. It had been using 500,000 plastic straws a year.

Itsu founder Julian Metcalfe said: “We are committed to phasing out plastic from our shops as quickly as we can. Many of our salads, sushi and wraps use compostable recycled, unprinted trays and we are introducing melamine bowls and metal cutlery to many shops.

“It’s important brands take responsibility for their part in creating a better world and campaigns such as The Last Straw are a brilliant platform.”