Do not be convinced you are saving the planet by drinking out of a terrible straw. Plastic straws are simply not killing the planet, and science just can’t stop proving it. I believe plastic straws should be reimplemented in the fast food industries, and metal straws in the restaurant business. After doing research and figuring out solutions to help the environment while still eliminating paper straws. Some fact about paper straws is that process of recycling paper can be inefficient and it takes 91% more energy to recycle a pound of paper than a pound of plastic. After businesses like McDonald’s have come out and said that the straws that are used in fast food joints are not recyclable so why are people arguing that the paper straws are better if you can’t recycle them that makes them no better.
Also, studies have shown that paper straws are the least effective way to reduce the amount of plastic in oceans and the environment. There are plenty of more useful ways to reduce plastic including getting rid of plastic bags with paper bags, which companies have started to do. But the paper straw idea is just not helping the environment, especially when the so-called paper straws can’t even be recycled.
Now over 30,000 McDonald’s customers have complained about the paper straws being used and begged for plastic straws to come back, so the demand is there to stop using plastic straws. Now my idea both helps the environment but also the people while still reducing plastic by using other strategies to help the animals and environment.
Like restaurants using metal straws that take the non-recyclable paper straws and the plastic straws out of the equation and that alone would help the environment, now I think fast food places, like Starbucks and McDonald’s, have to go back to plastic straws. Their straws are paper that they are using is not that much better than plastic so just go back because we are reducing paper and plastic straws by 50%. Also, paper products admit 3.5 more greenhouse gases than plastic products. Paper straws also contribute to deforestation so paper straws are not helping the environment because you’re cutting down trees to use as your straws.
After doing some more research to help prove my point on how the paper straw transitions are doing squat for the environment the biggest reason for plastics and garbage going into the ocean is fishing gear from the big boats in the ocean and it kills a lot of the animals in the ocean. So I think that people need to stop jumping on this paper straw bandwagon and realize that yes maybe it will save a couple of 100 animals, rather than focusing on the issues that are hurting the environment. The biggest reason in my opinion that has made the paper straws so big is that people think they’re helping the environment and that makes them feel good so they think oh I use this paper straw I am saving all these animals but then go to the grocery store and use plastic bags or buy pop bottles with the plastic ring holding them all together. Then will go home make a sandwich with a plastic bag and throw that out! I think people need to not get that easy fix of making themselves feel better because they think they’re helping the environment when there not.
To further my point in North America and Europe, you will get rid of your plastic straw in the garbage and then it is picked up by the garbage truck and then buried in the ground not in the ocean unless you’re just chucking your Slurpee cup in the ocean pretty much your plastic straw is not going into the ocean. Yes, they do sometimes find their way into the ocean but it’s not the issue everyone should be worrying about. According to a study in 2017 95 percent of the world’s ocean plastic comes from just 10 rivers: Eight in Asia and two in Africa. The straw that got stuck in that sea turtle’s nose? It almost certainly came from an Asian community with bad waste management.