Plastic Straws

Plastic Straws. 

Some bigger companies are now moving. 

Such as Starbucks, spreading the usage of a paper straw. 

 However, we have to face the truth of how much more progress must be made on the usage of plastic straws. With just the USA, yearly 500 million straws every day. 

But why is plastic straw such a big deal now? 

The effect on marine animals would be one of the biggest deals. 

 Plastic straws are commonly made out of two types; type 5 plastic or polypropylene. This Type 5 plastic can actually be recycled, however, the truth is that it rarely gets recycled, often ending up in landfills and oceans. This plastic ending up on oceans is causing an effect on marine animals. It takes around 200 years in order for plastic straws to decompose. Even so, plastic straws would never biodegrade (when the material is recycled into new organic molecules), however, they can only get degraded (breaking down to smaller pieces), again over courses of 200 years. On top of that, plastic straws that are degrading would release chemicals that can be toxic to many wildlife. 

 So with this forever lasting plastics, it affects marine animals, just like the infamous sea turtle which went viral from a plastic straw stuck in its nostrils. Microplastics (any plastic smaller than the size of 5 millimeters), may also harm smaller marine animals, affecting its whole food chain. Other than marine animals, sea bird gets affected significantly by these straws. Plastic straws can be easily picked up, causing sea birds to suffocate. Causing over 1 million seabirds to die every year. 

 So how do we prevent further litter from plastic straws? 

 The simplest way would be to prevent the usage of straw. However, this may not be easy for many people. For those of you, this problem can simply be improved through the usage of stainless straws instead of plastic straws.