Marking the November 1 deadline set out by the brand in July, CAVA – the Washington D.C. based restaurant and culinary brand – today announced that is has officially replaced all plastic, single-use straws with a compostable, FSG-certified paper alternative. The change impacts CAVA’s more than 70 restaurants across the United States. To keep CAVA welcoming to all, the brand will ensure guests who need a plastic straw will continue to have access to enjoy housemade juices and teas.

“As a business, we are always challenging ourselves to think and act more sustainably. When we realized we were on track to distribute more than 3.5 million straws this year, we took action to help mitigate our environmental impact by transitioning all single-use plastic straws to an FSC-certified paper alternative,” Brett Schulman, CEO of CAVA said. “We’re also excited to build on this work by removing all plastic water bottles from our restaurants and replacing them with a more sustainable, aluminum bottle – which is recycled more often and more efficiently than plastic, glass, and cartons.”

In the coming months, CAVA will also be eliminating all plastic water bottles through their partnership with Open Water. All single-use plastic bottles will be replaced with aluminum bottles. The recycling rate for aluminum is 67 percent, which is more than two times as high as the recycling rates for plastic, glass, or cartons. The switch builds on CAVA’s commitment of sustainability by providing guests even more sustainable alternatives.