By JACK HAUGH

PUBS and restaurants in Glasgow have backed calls for plastic straws to be banned in Scotland.

It follows growing pressure on the Scottish and UK Governments to stop nearly £3bn worth of straws being wasted every year.

However, some have warned that bars face being priced out of reusable alternatives as companies charge up to 300% the price of plastic straws for alternatives.

Slug and Lettuce manager, Stefano Kontos said: "I think it would be a good idea, but it is the customers who need to jump onboard.

"We have started to stop giving out plastic straws already, you need to ask first now before you can get one.

"I think we are in right direction with recycling, but we don't do enough."

His thoughts were mirrored by Massimo Verrecchia, manager of The Butterfly and the Pig, who said people would support the initiative when they understand the benefits to the environment.

The campaign to rid pubs and restaurants of the plastic was started by SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch, Kate Forbes, who said people use 1.6 straws a day on average.

Called the Final Straw, the campaign has officially been supported by the environmentalist group, The Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

A number of bars in Glasgow have already started to use biodegradable straws, with Strata on Queen Street having introduced them last year.

Although most support moves to help the environment, there are fears over the price and quality of the alternatives.

Andy Gibb, the new manager of YesBar, said: "Paper straws are not great as they get soggy after 2-3 minutes of use.

"I would love not to have straws, as they extremely wasteful.

"But until there is a better solution, we need to stick to what we have."

While Ruth Martin, of Brel in Glasgow's West End, said: "Personally, I agree with it due to the environmental issue.

"But, we have priced the recycling ones and the price is astronomical.

"I think when we last priced it, the recyclable straws cost around 300% more than normal ones."

Ms Forbes wants to see the use of plastic straws banned but stressed: "Any ban has got to be UK-wide because the sea does not respect country borders and plastic straws washed out to sea in the south of England could easily end up on the Highland coastline.

"That's why my campaign to calls on both the UK and Scottish governments to crack down on plastic straws as part of an overall strategy to ban single-use, disposable items such as cotton buds and throwaway cutlery where environmentally-friendly alternatives exist."

She also called on pubs and restaurants to "stop handing out straws automatically and to only provide biodegradable alternatives" - saying the pub chain Wetherspoons had already done so.