LA official who dreamed up plastic straw restriction says smoothie drinkers don't need straws: 'Just have them blend it a little thinner'

On Tuesday, all Los Angeles restaurant managers will be required to withhold plastic straws unless customers ask for them, KNBC-TV reported.

The station said "Straws on Request" is the brainchild of City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell, and the first phase — which applied to businesses with more than 26 employees — took effect on Earth Day (April 22). The Oct. 1 phase applies to all restaurants, KNBC said.

And according to KFI-AM reporter Andrew Mollenbeck, O'Farrell said folks don't need straws to drink their smoothies, either: "Just have them blend it a little thinner."

O'Farrell had planned to speak at a Monday morning news conference with city officials and local restaurant owners, KNBC reported.

"As a coastal city and state, we owe it to our environment to do everything in our power to ensure we reduce single-use plastic waste," he said, according to the station, adding that L.A.'s law is more restrictive than both the state's and county's recently adopted single-use plastic straw policies.

Santa Barbara passed a similar ordinance last year, and residents seemed most definitely in favor of it — with one even saying the plastic straw problem is worse than illegal immigration.