Barclays Center abandoning plastic drinking straws

NEW YORK -- An arena where the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders play is the latest place making plastic straws a thing of the past.

Brooklyn's Barclays Center said this week that it will switch to strawless drink lids or straws made from compostable alternative materials by next year. The affiliated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, on Long Island, also will drop plastic straws.

They are the latest partners in a movement to eliminate plastic straws because of harmful environmental impacts.

Seattle banned them this month and is believed to be the first major U.S. city to do so. Starbucks, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and American Airlines followed with plans to abandon straws too.

Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum estimate their bans will divert more than 5 million straws from landfills each year.