Los Angeles City Council approves ordinance to ban restaurants from automatically providing plastic straws

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Friday to pass an ordinance that bans the city's restaurants from automatically providing plastic straws to customers.

The move is seen as the next step as the city seeks to phase out single-use plastic straws by 2021.

The legislation will require all food and beverage facilities to only provide disposable plastic straws by request only.

The ordinance will take effect on April 22nd -- Earth Day -- for businesses with 26 employees or more.

All restaurants will be required to comply by Oct. 1.

The ultimate aim is to completely ban straws in L.A. within the next few years in an effort to clean up the environment, especially debris that flows into the ocean.

"Even though plastic straws are one of 10 items found on a beach during cleanup, it is something that everyone can take part in. You can take some personal responsibility to choose a plastic straw or request a paper one," Councilman Mitch O'Farrell said.