For many years, Americans have used plastic straws like crazy. Recently, National Geographic stated that Americans use an average of 500 million straws per day! Each person goes through at least two plastic straws each day of the week. The booming city of Seattle, Wash., recently decided to ban the usage of plastic straws. This includes stores selling them, people using them in restaurants, or through fast food corporations. Other states that our also trying to tackle this issue are Florida, California and New York, which all believe that plastic is what’s slowly killing our environment. I believe banning plastic straws is very important for our environment. This would decrease the death rates of sea life that swallow plastic that’s tossed into our oceans, and most importantly, we would succeed in environmental growth and reparation.
Instead of using plastic to take sips of a drink that you’ll consume in only a short span of time, there is many safe alternative routes to take. Food Network states many people use paper, recyclable lids, and by popular demand, stainless steel straws. This simple action can help cancel out the decomposition of plastic straws. This will also help to eliminate some of the plastic pollution that surround our oceans and landfills today. Alan’s Factory Outlet (https://www.alansfactoryoutlet.com/how-long-does-it-take-plastics-to-break-down) states that it can take up to 500 years for a straw to fully decompose. The website stated “Great garbage islands about the size of Mexico have been floating the the Pacific coast.” I feel if each person where to contribute to this alternative routes not only would our environment minimize harm, it could decrease the amount of plastic that consumes are ocean. 4Ocean states every year over 1.4 million pounds (10 percent) sits on top of our water. If we were to banish straws, this would help decrease the amount of sea life that passes away from the plastic they swim in.
So the next time you take a sip of something from a restaurant, think twice before you use a plastic straw. Instead, think of bigger and better solutions that can help save our planet.
For more information on the cons of plastic straws, check out this Global News article.
