Why Plastic Straws Are Being Banned
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
You may have noticed all the news articles about plastic straws lately. The small, seemingly harmless utensil that goes generally unnoticed in your everyday life has made it onto 2018’s most-wanted list.
If it’s surprising to hear that plastic straws are receiving backlash, it may be even more surprising to hear that, according to a 2017 study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a whopping 91 percent of the plastic we use is not recycled and instead ends up in landfills or the ocean.
Because of statistics like that, some municipalities and corporations are starting to make efforts to fight pollution. As part of that, they are proposing to ban or cut back on plastic straws.
As of July 1, Seattle is the first U.S. city to ban the use of plastic straws for vendors in the city, as well as plastic stir sticks and utensils. (Straws made of compostable paper or plastic are still allowed.) The New York City Council also recently introduced legislation to ban plastic straws by 2020. And most recently, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a proposal to outlaw plastic straws and stirrers in the city.
Among corporations jumping on board, Starbucks is one of the first globally recognized brands to announce it will be moving away from plastic straws . In addition to switching to compostable straws, it will be releasing a new strawless drink lid design on its regular cold-drink cups.
McDonald’s in the UK has already begun the process of removing plastic straws from its stores and set a goal to have 100 percent of its food and beverage packaging materials be from renewable or recycled sources by 2025.
These big cities and large corporations taking action helps to bring attention to the issue and start a conversation about how harmful plastic straws, and plastic as a whole, are to the environment.
Moving away from plastic straws is undoubtedly good for the environment, but it may present some challenges for business owners. Learn why straws are being banned, what their environmental impact is, and what your options are when it comes to finding the right alternative for your business.
Why straws?
Based on the amount of media attention plastic straws are getting, it may be surprising to hear they are not the leading type of plastic waste . That record goes to food wrappers and containers, which account for about 31 percent of all plastic pollution. They are followed by plastic bottle and container caps at 15.5 percent, plastic bags at 11.2 percent, and then finally plastic straws and stirrers at 8.1 percent.
The main reason cited for eliminating plastic straws is their negative impact on our oceans and marine wildlife. Plastic in the ocean is a huge problem — look no further than trash island , or the viral video of a turtle suffering as a result of ocean pollution, to understand that. But of all the plastic that ends up in the ocean, straws make up only four percent of that waste.
So why are straws a big target? The problem is their size. They are small and inconspicuous. So much so that people often forget they are plastic and do not recycle them.
Straws that do get recycled often don’t make it through the mechanical recycling sorter because they are so small and lightweight. So they contaminate recycling loads or get disposed of as garbage.
It is estimated that the average person uses 1.6 straws per day. That means that if 25,000 people stop using straws, we would eliminate 5,000,000 straws and prevent them from entering oceans and harming wildlife.
So, knowing that most straws, recycled or not, are likely to end up in our oceans, and knowing the amount of straws being used every day, individuals cutting back on use can make a difference.
How did we get here?
How did one small part of a very large problem kick off a movement that has inspired cities to ban plastic straw use altogether?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Plastic straws are not the first iteration of straws. It started with cardboard straws , but once plastic production in America increased, people realized it was quicker and cheaper to produce plastic straws. Starting in the 1960s , plastic straw manufacturing took off.
From there, a number of large manufacturers started to produce plastic straws and other on-the-go convenient plastic items that were increasingly in demand. Quickly, the industry as a whole started producing more plastic, and by 2015 the world was producing 322 million tons of plastic .
Now, we are faced with having to backtrack and try to reduce the damage that years of plastic overproduction have done.
The main problem is that, while convenient, plastic is not biodegradable — it does not break down into compounds (like carbon dioxide or water) that can be easily reused. Therefore, it takes years to break down plastic particles. Because of this, when plastic is not recycled and ends up in the ocean, it stays there, forever.
Based on an analysis of trash collected on U.S. coastlines during cleanups over five years, it was found that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws on America’s shorelines. There are figured to be about 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws on the entire world’s coastlines. And since they are not biodegradable, they are not going anywhere.
We know that plastic straws are only four percent of all pollution on the planet , which puts into perspective just how much plastic is laying around.
So, while straws are a small place to start, movements like plastic straw bans bring attention to conversations about waste management and pollution. This movement can help people become more aware of the impact that everyday plastic products have on the sustainability of the planet. That can, in turn, hopefully help us make progress in reducing the amount of plastic waste in the world.
That isn’t to say it will be an easy process. While the recent bans have been met with a lot of enthusiasm, communities that rely on plastic straws and use them on a regular basis are worried about what these changes mean for them.
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Of course it's all this turtles fault for making a you tube video that went viral.
He was just doing coke and passed out and his face hit the mirror.
Banning certain plastic products will extend our fossil fuel reserves.
But will we need more trees to replace plastic with cardboard?
The backward city I live in does NOT recycle straws (and lots of other plastic items).
I've been asking the fast food restaurants to keep their straws (and sporks) and I ask waiters and bartenders to leave the straws out of my drinks.
Here, they ask if you want a straw. I usually say no as I can drink just as well without one.
They actually plant trees for paper production. You should see the tree plantations in southwest and southern Arkansas
Poor thing!
looks like he needs a rehab
''Marine Trash'' on a beach in Hawaii.
i've gotten trashed on a beach in Hawaii
certainly didn't leave it looking like that
This is daily trash on Traverse City beaches during prime fudgie season. They use machines to remove the bulk but a lot just gets worked into the environment
And yes there are trashcans everywhere..
that's ridiculous
dare i ask, 'fudgie season' tourists ?
Lol Yes. T,C, is a tourist town, Although there are fudge shops I think they call them fudgies instead of other choice terms they may find offensive.
Wow! Lake Michigan?
And all that advertising says "Pure Michigan"
4 or 5 you tube vids and the TC Tourism video make it look pristine.
How sad, seems that many people just don't give a shit about the environment.
For the most part it is, that's why the Beach is cleaned daily.
The sad part is the dirtiest sections of the beach are where the locals hang out, It's not just the fudgies.
Even the politicians are trying to jump on banning the poor plastic straws...as seen in this familiar town hall interview.
I am completely underwhelmed by your understanding of this issue, your use of profanity and your creativity.
You have managed to create whole new disgusting version of a "strawman argument".
Are straws the only thing you suck?
Seems to be overly fixated on what people do in the privacy of their own homes.
Me thinks he doth protest waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much.
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????????????????????????????
You can't call someone a name. Sorry.
Are straws the only thing you suck?
No. His comments totally suck.
Sorry. I'll remember that next time. I know the truth hurts though.
I've never ever EVER known a sexually secure man give an iota about what gay men do. It doesn't bother them, they don't give a shit about it, they don't think about it. I'm willing to bet a man who overly thinks the gay issue has guy-on-guy porn in their trunk and/or in the back of their closet. If you're thinking about it, you're fantasizing about it.
'Not to worry Pete has promised to go green, [removed]'
Thank you The people's fish for removing that. It was unnecessary, and disgusting.
What consenting adults do in their fucking bedrooms and damp hotel rooms is none of my business.
Just gimme my F-n' straw! Buncha self-righteous nonsense. The real pollution here is the garbage we have to swallow that these people think they're saving the planet by banning straws. And they pat themselves on the back for their brave determination. I'd hurl, but what comes up might kill a turtle.
Trump is the biggliest expert on sucking!
I don't want to be buying my own straws. We went out for lunch yesterday and had to ask for straws. I felt like I was asking for the condoms behind the counter.
The problem is not the straws themselves, but the selfish aholes who can't be bothered to find a trash can to throw them away in. If you are at least responsible enough to do that, then suck on.
Yeah, you'd think "don't litter" would probably go a long way toward alleviating the problem. Some people just don't give a damn, I guess.
Exactly.
"Based on an analysis of trash collected on U.S. coastlines during cleanups over five years, it was found that there are nearly 7.5 million plastic straws on America’s shorelines. There are figured to be about 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws on the entire world’s coastlines."
Lazy Beach Goers !
(Paper or Plastic) = You MUST Choose "Plastic" and save the "Tree" !
I guess we're gonna go back to "Paper" again. (Poor Tree's)
At least trees are renewable ( see comment 2.2 )
When we run out of natural gas, coal & oil, plastics can go back to being made from plants.
Apparently they weren't ! Thus why it was time we HAD TO change to Plastic back in the day !
It was strictly cheaper, but I think we all thought it was part of a bold new era, with better shiny modern shit.
If I remember, there was plenty of complaining about paper straws back in the daze before plastic.
As trout says, paper manufacturers like Georgia pacific grow there own forests now that most of the old growth is gone or protected. GP has tree farms and manufacturing plants in 30 states.
Because of tree farms in the USA, our forests have actually increased by 14 million acres from 2007 to 2012
So …. "Save the Tree's" back in the day, was "Corporate" led, just so "Nasty Corp." could make even MORE money ?
What about the "Environmentalists" that were pushing the "Save the Tree's" …."Choose Plastic" ?
Were they just lowly "Crab Grass" needing a spray or two of weed killer ?
Nope, Georgia Pacific and others adapted and overcame environmentalists.
it just turns out that plastic waste is worse than everyone imagined.
Well that was a contradictory statement based on what I said about Big Corp..
If non-environmentalists don't give a shit about the future of our planet and the health of our wildlife, perhaps the warnings to attach to plastic straws about how they affect us humans would affect their decision:
Cite .
I would think the opposite is true. Doesn't a straw direct the stream behind the teeth? I think that would be better for your teeth. I do know some people prefer a straw because their gums are sensitive to cold and the straw bypasses them.
Shoot, you were soooo close. You were just one sentence away that was a cavity caveat:
Thank you. I went to bed very late last night.
R u referencing sucking, or blowing, straws ?
Certainly not snorting.
'snort'
I don't need a straw. A rolled up bill works just as good.
Do NOT snort coke.
The carbonation will destroy your sinuses.
and the paint on your car if you are not careful....