Last weekend I was at a bar in Vancouver and for the first time my rum and coke was served without a straw. At first it was a weird feeling drinking from the glass rim but like most things it didn’t take long to get over it. While I don’t think a ban on plastic straws will have a huge impact on the environment (according to this article plastic consumption worldwide totalled 300 million metric tonnes and straws is a miniscule percentage of that number) it is a good catalyst for getting the conversation going on the detrimental impact plastics is having on the environment.
Each one of the world’s 7.6 billion humans, we’re making 88 pounds of plastic a year through our use of plastic straws, plastic packaging, Tupperware…plastic is even in the clothes we wear! Every time clothes are washed, the fabric sheds microfibres that end up in our waterways and contribute to plastic pollution.
It’s up to us to do what we can to protect the planet. I’ll start with a rum and coke sans straw!