Plastic Pollution Coalition and The Last Plastic Straw awarded Chef Mario Batali with a certificate of business and community leadership on Oct. 24 in NYC, USA, for eliminating plastic straws in his 20 restaurants and being part of the global solution to plastic pollution.
The event was a fundraiser for PPC and The Last Plastic Straw (a project of PPC) and featured food and cocktails by Mario Batali and a musical performance by Steve Earle.
“Single-use plastic is an idea whose time has come and gone,” said Batali at the event. “No more plastic straws in my 20 restaurants.”
Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group began offering only paper drinking straws upon request in their restaurants starting in July. The move came after a longtime partnership between PPC, Mario Batali, and Elizabeth Meltz, Director of Environmental Health for B&BHG. According to Meltz the 20 restaurants will remove about a quarter of a million straws and stirrers from the waste stream in one year.
Jackie Nuñez, founder of The Last Plastic Straw, thanked Batali for changing industry standards for the better. “Thank you for stepping up to be a solution to plastic pollution instead of a source. You are leading by example, and showing other businesses that it can be done. Thank you for saving the planet one sip at a time!”
Photo by Dianna Cohen
Carmel Mulvany and Scooter LaForge. Photo by
@lyndachurilla
Photo by @lyndachurilla
Jane Patton, Mario Batali, Dianna Cohen, Michelle Esrick, and Jordan Popper.
@lyndachurilla
Bill Jackson and Mario Batali @lyndachurilla
PPC branded S’well bottles. Photo by Dianna Cohen.
Jackie Nunez and Dianna Cohen
Steve Earle performs
Jane Patton, Marquis Stillwell, and Dianna Cohen. Photo by @lyndachurilla
Mario Batali and Steve Earle. Photo by @lyndachurilla
Steve Earle and Izhar Patkin. Photo by @lyndachurilla
Bill Jackson, Sarah Jackson, Dianna Cohen, and Mario Batali. Photo by @lyndachurilla
Mario Batali and Jackie Nunez. Photo by
@lyndachurilla
Dianna Cohen and Lynda Churilla
Dianna Cohen and Michelle Esrick
Photos by Lynda Churilla.
Thank you to Mario Batali and Steve Earle, and to host committee members Jackson Browne, Julia Cohen, Michelle Esrick, Jon Kilik, Lisa Henkoff, Marion Hunt, Bill Jackson, Judy & Jim O’Brien, Izhar Patkin, Lois Robbins, Susan & David Rockefeller, Patti Smith, Jann Wenner, Allison Williams, Betsy & Ed Zimmerman. Thank you to S’well Bottle for partnering with PPC and to all the guests of the event who make the work of PPC possible.
