Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past year, it’s probably been hard to ignore the biggest trend in environmental conservation: saying “no” to plastic straws.
Due to the hard work of environmental activists, BIG companies (and even entire cities and states) have made a commitment to ditching plastic straws and/or finding alternatives to the one-time-use plastic drinking utensil:
-Starbucks promises to eliminate all plastic straws from their franchises by 2020
-Hyatt will no longer provide them unless requested and they plan to offer alternatives
-American Airlines plans to replace plastic straws with biodegradable alternatives
-I was just at a Chicago White Sox game this past summer and noticed signs that said they are no longer liberally providing them
-Miami Beach (FL), Fort Myers (FL), Seattle (WA) have began implementing straw bans
-New York City, Hawaii, and California have pending straw bans
And the reasoning behind all of the bans and new initiatives is pretty simple: Humans use an obscene amount of one-time-use plastic products and many of those products are not disposed of properly or are unable to be recycled. Over 500 million plastic straws are used each day in the United States. Unfortunately, a lot of those plastic straws end up in oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. and are impacting the animals and wildlife that live in those waterways. (You may have even seen the horrifying images and/or videos of straws getting caught in sea turtles’ noses floating around the internet.) It’s estimated that by the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish :( That’s why I’m trying to be more conscious of the plastic waste I produce, and I’m putting in more effort than ever before to reduce my use of “one-time-use” plastics - starting with eliminating plastic straws from my life! Consider me an active member of the “No Straws” Movement!
Here’s How You Can Take Action & Join the “No Straws” Movement Too:
Order your drinks without straws
Be a conscious consumer and think about what you’re buying (Pay special attention to unnecessary packaging materials!)
Talk about and share info about the impact plastic has on the environment (And also share about the good things people are doing to reverse the effects!)
Convince local businesses to ditch straws unless requested by customers.
Purchase some of my favorite reusable straws: Softy Straws!
What I Love About Softy Straws:
Softy Straws are “eco-friendly reusable straws” that are made out of high grade, FDA approved silicon. They are soft and flexible (safe for little ones to use!), and the material can withstand both hot and cold temperatures, so they are perfect for sipping on your favorite iced coffee, tea, smoothie, slushie, etc.! After I’m done using them, I use the included silicone straw squeegee (designed by the makers of Softy Straws and patent-pending) to clean it out easily before throwing it in the dishwasher to sanitize! They are also reasonably priced and are available on Amazon! Oh, and they come in different colors - I personally LOVE the pink ones! Now I never leave home without one or two in my purse.
So join me in taking steps to reduce the amount of plastic waste you produce, and start using replacements for one-use plastics, like Softy Straws (the one type of straw that doesn’t “suck”)! I realize that ditching one-time-use straws won’t completely solve our plastic-waste problem, but it’s a good start!
As always, thanks for reading!
