Happy New Year and welcome to 2017! A new year is a great time to start new habits and quickly change some aspect of your life to better yourself and your environment. This year, be sure to follow our #TipTuesday’s for tips and ideas on how to be more environmentally conscious.
For our first #TipTuesday of 2017 we are asking for our readers to pledge to #SkiptheStraw. Straws are one of the main items we find on beach cleanups. Data from straw manufactures suggest in the U.S. we use 500 million straws every single day. Between the ages of 5 to 65 each individual uses over 38,000 straws; that’s an average of 1.7 straws a day. Aside from being a huge pollutant to our beaches, they are produced of polypropylene plastics, a non-recycle plastic that ends up in landfills and eventually make their way to the ocean. Over many, many years the plastic will break down into smaller pieces (never really going away) and continue to pollute our ecosystem at a microscopic level.
During the International Coastal Cleanup in 2015, worldwide 439,571 straws were collected. In New Hampshire alone we collected 493 (in just one month!). We at Blue Ocean want to cut that number down. Make it your New Year’s Resolution to refuse straws as we will. To keep yourself motivated, consider keeping all the straws you do use. This will be a great visual of the impact straws create in your life. Below are some tips on how you can say no to straws and #SkiptheStraw in 2017!
- Refuse straws at restaurants. Say no thank you if they are wrapped or request the waiter to not bring you one. If you absolutely need one, just like a reusable bag, bring one from home! Below are some options for purchasing reusable straws.
- Bring your own reusable cups and straws for coffee, smoothies, milkshakes, etc. If you know you are going to be stopping to grab a drink, prepare for it!
- Don’t buy plastic straws for parties or home use! If you must buy straws, paper straws are a good alternative.
- Educate others on the plastic pollution straws create. The best way to create change is to inspire others. When you refuse a straw, encourage others around you to do the same and explain why.
Eco-friendly Straw Alternatives:
- Aardvark Paper Straws
- Dharma Glass Straws
- Simply Straws
- Eco at Heart Stainless Steel Straw
- Mulled Mind Stainless Steel Straw
Comment below and show us how you #SkiptheStraw!
Sources: Ocean Conservancy, Eco-Cycle and The Last Plastic Straw
