You’re going out to a restaurant to eat with your family and friends, and you want a glass of water to go along with your meal. The waiter comes back with your H2O, but you notice there’s also something else inside the glass: a plastic straw. You didn’t ask for the straw, you don’t need it, but the waiter gave one to you anyway. This is a scenario that happens everyday way more times than it should. Plastic straws are not a necessity, yet it’s become such a widespread habit to take everything we drink with this little plastic tube. We’ve become unaware of how much waste and damage these single-use products are responsible for.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/bobastraws1edited.jpg)
Let’s begin with the journey of how straws came to be.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/historyofstrawsedited.jpg)
Plastic straws have not only become a very common object, but their impact on the environment has been huge.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/enviromentalimpactsedited.jpg)
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/strawglobeedited.jpg)
Approximately 500 million plastic straws are used every day in the U.S., which translates to over 175 billion per year.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/strawbeachedited.jpg)
In addition to piling up in landfills, plastic straws are leeching out into our oceans, harming animals that may ingest them by accident.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/pelicanedited.jpg)
In Costa Rica, there was a sea turtle whose life was threatened because a plastic straw got stuck inside its nostril.
You start to think to yourself, “Are straws really that necessary?”
While a lot of damage has already been done, there are many things we can still do right now to help alleviate the problem.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cafestrawedited.jpg)
When going out to restaurants or cafes, simply tell your waiter, “No straw, please!”
If you’re the type of person who just really enjoys the feeling of sucking up a drink through a straw, there are many eco-friendly alternatives out there. Below are a few examples of reusable straws. Recyclable and compostable straws are also good options.
Bamboo Straws:
Glass Straws
Metal Straws
The possibilities are endless.
![](https://www.sunsetmediawave.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/sunsetedited.jpg)
Save our beaches, save our animals, not our straws.
Images Via:
Worldwatch
Worldwatch
LifeWithoutPlastic
WashingtonPost
BBC
RootsAndBranches
MasonJarLifestyle
CrateandBarrel