Aqua Restaurant Group is pleased to announce that, by 1st February 2018, all of its restaurants in London, Hong Kong and Beijing, will be completely free of plastic straws. With 23 restaurants spanning the three cities, the move aims to raise awareness of the fight against plastic.
Inspired by the recent BBC series of Blue Planet and current campaigns, the team at Aqua have been investigating the best way to reduce plastics and general waste. The new policy will see only metal stirrers provided in all drinks, with completely biodegradable straws available on request. Having previously highlighted a ‘throwaway society’ in 2016, the group collaborated with Sir David Attenborough to create a first of its kind installation at aqua shard. The Christmas ‘tree’ installation comprised 3D printed leaves created using recycled materials such as fridges, home electronics, bottle plastic and discarded food wrappers.
Deputy Operations Director, London, John Wiltshire commented: “The recent media coverage of the damage plastic is having on nature and the environment has brought this serious issue back to everyone’s attention. Restaurants have a particular responsibility to reduce the waste we produce on a daily basis. We use over 1,000 traws a day in our London venues and we hope that this first small step is the first of many changes we will make across the Group.”
In London, Aqua Restaurant Group operates aqua shard and Hutong on levels 31 and 33 of The Shard and aqua kyoto, aqua nueva and aqua spirit on Regent Street.