100 jobs at Huhtamaki factory making McDonalds' straws

Image source, PA

  • Author, John Campbell
  • Role, 大象传媒 News NI Economics & Business Editor

A packaging company is creating 100 jobs in Antrim with a new factory which will make paper straws for McDonald's.

Huhtamaki is investing 拢12m in the facility at Kilbegs Business Park.

Single-use plastic items like straws are facing a ban across Europe, prompting companies to use new products.

McDonald's is introducing paper straws to more than 1,300 restaurants in the UK and Ireland this year.

Image source, Reuters

Image caption, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed a ban on plastic straws

On Tuesday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove confirmed restrictions on plastic straws, drinks stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in England from April 2020.

Most straws are made from plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene, which, unless recycled, take hundreds of years to decompose.

Many end up in landfill and the oceans.

The 大象传媒's Blue Planet II highlighted the damage plastic can cause to marine wildlife.