Cafe chain The Coffee Club ditches plastic straws

The Coffee Club will stop using plastic straws from next week, eliminating close to one million straws going to landfill annually.

The Australian cafe chain, which operates 63 stores throughout New Zealand, now uses paper straws in most of its cafes.

Plastic straws will be gone from all cafes by September 10.

Andy Lucas, co-director of The Coffee Club, said the move would eliminate around 898,000 plastic straws per year.

"Like many of our customers, we are concerned about the negative environmental impact of plastic straws being disposed of irresponsibly," Lucas said.

"Earlier this year, we stopped using straws for many drinks that simply didn't need one, which reduced our straw usage dramatically. Moving to a non-plastic straw for the remaining drinks will allow us to further reduce waste and minimise the impact that our stores have on the environment."

The Coffee Club joins Mexicali Fresh, Bird on a Wire, Countdown and Burger Wisconsin to stop using plastic straws in its stores.

Research shows eight million metric tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year.

The Coffee Club is owned by Minor DKL Food Group. The brand was bought to New Zealand in 2005 by Andy Lucas and Brad Jacobs, who have the franchise rights.

The first The Coffee Club opened in Wellington's Queensgate shopping centre in 2005.