The Liberation Group has stopped offering plastic straws in its pubs to help fight environmental waste.
Liberation is the largest pub group to move away from plastic straws, phasing them out from all of their 100 strong pub estate across the Channel Islands and West Country.
Plastic straws are made from polypropylene – a petroleum product designed to last forever. The straws are particularly harmful to marine life, with more than one million seas birds and a hundred thousand marine mammals killed by plastic waste each year. It is estimated that unless there is a significant shift, plastic refuse in the ocean is set to outweigh the fish by 2050.
Given this harm, the Liberation Group has made the switch to biodegradable paper straws which do not damage marine life.
As part of Plastic Free July, the Liberation Group is supporting the local “Straws Suck!” campaign which has gained considerable momentum in recent weeks. The campaign involves stopping the use of plastic straws and switching to biodegradable alternatives. Liberation pubs will be encouraging their customers to join the campaign and cut plastic waste through social media and on its pub blackboards with the #refusethestraw hashtag.
Jayson Perfect, Managing Director – Pubs and Inns:
“Our pubs use millions of straws each year, so we see the switch really benefiting the environment. Plastic straws are a blight on our coastlines, marine life and our oceans. This is a problem which is entirely avoidable. As an Island company who supports many charitable organisations, I feel we also have a moral obligation to support helping marine mammal life where possible.”
-ENDS-
Enquiries:
Liberation Group Tel: 01934 864898
Emmy Webster, Butcombe Brewing Co. Marketing Manager
Instinctif Partners Tel: 020 7457 2020
Matthew Smallwood
Tali Kramer
Henry Conner
About Liberation Group
The Liberation Group is the market leading pub, restaurant and drinks business acquired by Caledonia Investments in September 2016. Across the Channel Islands, it operates 73 predominantly freehold pubs located in Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney.
The Liberation Group also own and operate the Liberation Brewery, home of Liberation and Mary-Ann beers and the two major Channel Islands drinks distribution businesses: Victor Hugo in Jersey, and Bucktrout in Guernsey plus associated wholesale and retail outlets.
In December 2014, Liberation Group acquired Butcombe Brewing Co. near Bristol as a platform for growth in the UK. It had been established since 1978. Butcombe rebranded in 2017 to reflect its values and to take account of the considerable innovation that has taken place. Butcombe Brewing Co. currently comprises 27 pubs.