In a constant effort to change the impact we have on the environment 44 Stanley will no longer be serving plastic straws with drinks in its restaurants.

The centre and its tenants have been working very hard to create a space that is sensitive to the environment and aware of the impact of all the businesses on both its visitors and employees. We have an ethos of ethical and considerate sourcing and manufacturing in all our shops and restaurants and try to promote local business wherever possible. We realise that we need to be consistent and accordingly need to also reduce our use of single use plastic and improve our recycling initiatives.

We know that all our customers will assist us in supporting the initiative and hopefully decide to refuse plastic straws elsewhere (we know many of you do already). We will be offering customers who feel they require a straw - a reusable reed straw as we launch our plastic straw free zone.

These biodegradable straws from Khanyiso Straws are made from reeds that are ecologically sustainable, grow abundantly in Mozambique and can be used up to 20 times.

If you would like to learn more about the impact of plastic straws please have a look at the the resources like Straw Free Org, watch the video showing a plastic straw found stuck in a sea turtles nostril (warning it's graphic) and there a number of talks you can watch on TEDtalks - the one by 9 year old Molly Steer is pretty straight forward and shows that we can really be impactful by sharing the message.

Spread the word by encouraging others to stop using straws.

#SKIPTHESTRAW #STRAWFREESTANLEY