The facts about plastic straws
On 1 June 2018, a single pilot whale in Thailand made headlines across the world. It had eaten over 80 plastic bags that had found their way into the ocean, confusing them for it usually eats: squid, fish, and octopus. The plastic bags made it feel full and clogged its digestive tract, eventually killing it.
Scientists believe that by 2050, there will be more plastic in our oceans than there will be fish. And its not just plastic bags that we should be worried about: the plastic straw is just as pervasive and harmful.
Humans having been using straws for at least 7,000 years. Thousands of years ago, people in Mesopotamia, China, Egypt, and South America were using precious metals, wood, reeds, and grass to sip on their drinks. In the 1800s, Europeans and North Americans used straws made of wheat and rye until paper straws were invented in 1888.
The rise of the fast food industry in the 1960s gave rise to the shift from paper to plastic straws. Today, in the United States alone, half a million plastics straws are used daily. In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, it is estimated that 8.5 billion straws are thrown away annually. No one knows how many are used (and discarded) annually worldwide. What we do know, though, is that plastic straws are one of the most common items found on beaches across the world. These small utensils are far from harmless:
1. Straws are made from polypropylene, a petroleum by-product that needs a large amount of energy and resources to extract and refine.
2. Most plastic straws are not recycled. In places where recycling is possible, plastic straws are often too lightweight to make it through mechanical recycling sorters. Instead, they either drop through the sorting screens and get disposed of as garbage or they become mixed up with other types of larger plastics and contaminate the recycling loads.
3. Plastic straws end up as ocean plastic pollution often because our own actions – we leave them on beaches or they blow or drop out of garbage bins, transport boats, and vehicles.
4. Scientists estimate that 71% of seabirds and 30% of sea turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. After eating plastic, these animals have a 50% mortality rate.
5. When plastic enters into the natural environment – whether on land or in the water – it breaks down into smaller and smaller microplastic pieces. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade or dissolve. Instead, if it ends up in the water, it often enters the food chain, consumed by fish and other marine life.
6. A plastic straw we use for maybe 20 minutes will outlast every single person living on this planet. One straw for one drink may not seem like much, but 8 billion people using straws daily is. The scale of this plastic straw problem is enormous.
7. There are reusable and disposable alternatives to plastic straws. Glass, bamboo, and stainless steel straws can all be used, cleaned, and used again. Paper straws also work and they’re disposable.
We are starting to a see a shift in Anguilla. For example, Roy’s Bayside Grill has decided to stop offering straws while DaVida’s has switched to paper ones. Biodegradable alternatives to plastics can be purchased at Merchant’s Market. On the larger stage, also joining this plastic straw-less movement is the Royal Caribbean cruise ship chain, the fast food restaurant A&W, as well as Barcadie, Absolut, Smirnoff, and Baileys – last year, all four alcohol producers eliminated plastic straws from their events and advertising.
But all businesses, regardless of location and size, are driven by consumer needs and desires. We as consumers have the power to effect change: we can simply refuse straws. Pledge to go #plasticfree and #stopsucking: when you order a drink, say “Without a straw, please!”; ask servers and restaurant and bar owners to switch to a “straws on request” policy instead of automatically providing one (or two); if you need a straw, bring your own biodegradable paper straw or reusable bamboo, stainless steel, or glass ones. It might seem like a small thing to do, but the result can be significant – especially on an island as small as Anguilla!
