A GLASGOW councillor has blasted an east end supermarket for handing out plastic straws in its café - sparking a plea for the items to be scrapped in grocery shops across the city.

Councillor Paul Carey launched a war on the drinking tools after Glasgow City Council committed to scrapping the items in favour of the paper alternative.

However, he was left shocked when he discovered Asda at The Forge in Parkhead was still using them.

He told the Evening Times: “I was at the Forge Market at Parkhead on September 30 and, when I was there, I went into the Asda store for something to eat.

“I noticed that in their café there were hundreds of plastic straws lying around for people to use.

“People were taking two or three straws, just using one and leaving the others lying about. There were also used straws discarded on the floor.

“These would just end up in a landfill if not worse … To have that amount of straws for people to use is just absolutely unbelievable.”

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Earlier this year, the Drumchapel and Anniesland councillor hit out at fast-food chain McDonalds for using plastic straws and handing out helium balloons to customers.

The American company quickly u-turned and admitted it was due to begin the process of removing all plastic straws from its restaurants.

Now, Cllr Carey wants to see all supermarket cafés do the same “as a matter of urgency” in order to protect the environment, with Greenpeace declaring straws among the top 10 plastic items in ocean.

Major retailer Morrisons has already announced its plans to ditch the plastic in line with the councillor’s calls.

The chain no longer buys plastic straws, or cotton buds with plastic stems and has scrapped selling 5p single-use carrier bags.

The firm also plans to make all of its own-brand packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable.

While Tesco said it was also "committed" to removing unnecessary plastics from its stores.

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A spokesman said plastic stirrers and single use plastic side pots in children's meal deals had already been scrapped.

He added: “We have been working hard to remove single use plastic straws from Tesco Cafés. These will be replaced by paper straws by the end of this year.”

Asda said it began the process of replacing 2.4million plastic straws with paper alternatives last month, with the aim of only having paper products by February next year.

CEO Roger Burnley said earlier this year: "We have set out everything we have done - and everything we are going to do - to reduce our use of plastics, or improve recyclability in our business over the next 12 months, and beyond."