Over the past few months I’ve been exploring ways to start being more environmentally friendly. There is currently a trend called “Zero Waste” which you may be familiar with. It’s living your life in a way that you generate very little recycling and hardly any waste – think a mason jar full of an entire year’s trash. As I’ve been looking into Zero Waste, I must admit that I’ve been pretty overwhelmed. How is my family of three supposed to go from at least 3-4 bags of trash (and a full recycling bin) a week to one mason jar a year?!
As with most things in life, slow and steady wins the race. Deciding to go whole hog all at once is not realistic or sustainable. So, I’ll be sharing small, manageable changes that my family has made that over time will have a lasting impact on the environment. These changes are simple, don’t require much (or any) up front costs, and can be made today. Which brings us to today’s topic – plastic straws.
Plastic pollution on our beaches and in our oceans is a major issue. Straws might not make up the most space, but they do quite a bit of damage. Strawless Ocean reports:
“An estimated 71% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. When they ingest plastic, marine life has a 50% mortality rate.”
Still not convinced? A viral video in 2015 shows the removal of a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nose (I couldn’t watch).
As if damage to sea life were not enough, straws can also damage our own health. Straws contain BPA, which can lead to breast and prostate cancer, reproductive disorders, heart disease and diabetes, among others health problems. Most of us know by now to stay away from BPA in water bottles or other plastic containers, but may have never considered that the straw we chew on from our iced coffee might contain BPA also.
As I started researching this, I was happy to discover that I am way behind the times when it comes to ditching plastic straws. There are several anti-straw movements already under way, here are some of my favorites:
- Strawless in Seattle – In July 2018, the city is ready to enact a ban on all plastic straws. Many Seattle establishments have already begun, such as the airport, aquarium and sports arenas.
- Lonely Whale Foundation – Adrian Grenier co-founded this non-profit dedicated to bringing education and awareness to this issue. They’ve also produced some amazing videos around why straws suck.
- Straw Free Day – A concerned 11 year old boy in Colorado got the Governor to declare a day free of straws in 2013.
- Straw Wars – establishments in the Soho neighborhood in London pledge to do away with straws or only provide them when requested.
So what can I do? This one is really easy – stop using straws! Just say no and bring your own, there are great titanium, 
And for the overachievers out there – next time you are getting a coffee, ask your coffee shop why they continue to offer plastic straws. Dunkin Donuts never ceases to have innovative albeit disgusting ideas for food and drink options (waffle sandwich and a blueberry coffee, anyone?) – but they have yet to even consider discontinuing their ubiquitous pink and orange straw. Same goes for you, Starbucks. In both the Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibility reports, they tout achievements in increasing their use of green energy, the recycled content of their cups, etc. but neither one even mentions their straws. C’mon guys, stop sucking.
eco chick 