18) Student Choice:
Today I’m going to talk about the use of straws. Something that I’ve never thought about it until the other day that I saw a campaign on Instagram to make awareness. Since I work in a restaurant we go through boxes and boxes of straws weekly and I feel so bad for using so many. Plastic straws have a shockingly short lifespan, normally used once and then discarded. Like other plastics, they never biodegrade and take hundreds of years to break down. What also makes me feel sad is thinking on all of the straws that are being used and throw away at the same time all over the world. According to the NPS Commercial Services in the United States, "alone 500 million plastic straws are being used each day. To understand just how many straws 500 million really is, this would fill 125 school buses with straws every day." Can you imagine where all these straws are going ended up, it’s a sad reality. They’re so small that you would think they don’t hurt nobody, not like a plastic bag or a plastic bottle, but that amount of waste really adds up. I think it’s time to be more conscious and pay more attention to this small things that are hurting our planet. Sometimes, I feel like telling the costumers to refuse the use of straws or telling my coworkers to don't use so many and not wasting them or putting a sign on the front door so everybody can see it when they come in and they make a choice before they sit on a table. But I’m afraid my boss can get mad at me for telling the costumers what to do. I wish there were more campaigns to educate people about this serious problem, campaigns as big as the ones for plastic bags or plastic bottles. So, how can you help? For starters, like me, it’s as simple as asking for “no straw on my drink, please”. That can make a huge difference. Also concessioners in the food and beverage industry can implement and “offer first” policy, that way you can choose if to use the straw or not instead of making the straw usage the default. But the most simple and effective way to start is that next time you go out to eat and drink say “no straw please” and explain your friends why.
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AuthorJanet Archives
May 2017
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