The Chicago White Sox will officially become the first Major League Baseball team to stop serving single-use plastic straws at their representative stadium.

Last week, the team announced that they would no longer be automatically giving out straws with their stadium food at Guaranteed Rate Field – although biodegradable straws will be available upon request.

Th initiative, which kicked off on Earth Day, is expected to prevent more than 215,000 plastic straws from ending up in the landfill over the course of the season.

The project was also made in collaboration with the Shedd Aquarium's "Shedd the Straw" campaign to get Chicago businesses and individuals to stop using plastic straws.

Brooks Boyer, vice president of sales and marketing, said in a White Sox press release: "We are honored to be the first ballpark to take the step of reducing our single-use plastic straws for nearly a full season…"

"The entire Guaranteed Rate Field family – the White Sox, Delaware North and Levy (concession partners) – is proud to collaborate with Shedd to share this important message with our fans and hope it will inspire others to do what they can in their own lives."

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