Please Don't Take Away My Plastic Straw

Starbucks recently announced that it will stop using disposable plastic straws by 2020, eliminating more than one billion straws a year. Starbucks has more than 28,000 stores worldwide.

I'm all for eliminating plastic waste but, I happen to be very attached to my plastic straw. I sometimes spill my coffee. Usually that happens while I'm organizing the papers on a little cafe table while I juggle a phone and my purse. If my cup falls over, the plastic straw prevents the coffee from coming out all over my computer or important papers. The straw also allows me to take very tiny sips so, I don't burn my tongue. I've been drinking my coffee this way for decades. Everyone can identify my cup by the plastic straw. That is handy. Eliminating my straw will be a major lifestyle change.

Public support has been growing for the banning of single-use consumer plastics, such as straws and grocery bags. I don't want plastic to enter our waterways. I am vehemently against pollution and I am a conservationist but, isn't this more of a Waste Management problem? For example, this swan struggles to eat because of people causally throwing their garbage in to the Thames River in London.

The public is demanding an end to plastic waste and now will do almost anything to prevent it. Businesses are responding by eliminating everything they provided before made of plastic. Is this a good thing? Certainly we can create a better world, if it can be done intelligently.

Plastic is strong, it is useful but, nothing is worse that seeing a sea turtle with a 6-ringed can holder around his neck or an innocent animal entwined in plastic netting. If I throw my plastic straw in the kitchen trash, there is no reason for that straw to end up in the ocean.

Then I did some research and perhaps I need to reconsider that. The efficiencies of recycling should be questioned, the drawbacks and the benefits. Proper recycling requires that different types of plastic need to be separated and sorted, cleaned and contaminant-free. 

Are people who recycle really doing it correctly? Is there always an economic and environmental benefit?

Did you know that in 2012, nearly half of all the plastic waste in Americans was sent abroad to China for recycling and about one-third of the European Union’s. According to this article China received 56% of global scrap plastic exports. WOW.

China hasn't exactly been the most ecologically-minded country on the planet, especially when it comes to workers or their environment. Western countries seem to be OK with that if they can avoid the pollution themselves - out of sight, out of mind. For example, the significant savings in electric power and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through switching from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs has been embraced in western countries but, the manufacturing and disposal of fluorescent bulbs causes mercury pollution. China had become the largest CFL manufacturer in the world. If you understand the toxicity of mercury poisoning, I'm not sure that's a valid trade-off for reducing our carbon footprint. Chinese people and their environment are being poisoned. Most people in the United States are unaware of the dangers of mercury pollution except for when they eat tuna. Examine this article for more on the topic: Mercury risk from Flourescent Bulbs from China.

It's hard to dig down and get to The Truth when it comes to being Green and recycling. There have been chilling findings about how micro-plastics travel through oceans and waterways and up the food chain. There has also been recent efforts to collect and reuse these plastics. There is evidence that petrochemical pollution and plastics are digested by ocean bacteria and other enzymes. Eventually, there should be a technological solution.

Did you know there is a major effort to eliminate the plastic pipettes used in scientific research?

To conduct important life saving biological research, Petri dishes, pipette tips, and tissue culture plates need to be free of all contaminants and sterile. According to a close friend who works in research, molecular biology experiments use microliter quantities, too small to measure with glass pipettes. Experiments like Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) need surfaces to be pristine and free of any extraneous DNA or RNA. How much plastic is this as a percentage of all the plastic waste in the world? Is eliminating plastic pipettes wise or has the Green movement gone mad? Do we get rid of plastic at any cost? Shouldn't we selective in our choices? There are ways to properly contain toxic waste.

People feel virtuous using a reusable cloth bags when grocery shopping. Did you know that those cloth bags are also harbingers for dangerous bacteria unless you are washing that bag every time you shop? Plastic litter on California beaches has decreased since the state banned single-use plastic bags in 2016. That's good but, 10% of the reusable bags collected from shoppers were found to contained E. Coli., and that's deadly. The most contaminated surface encountered in grocery store is the front end of a shopping cart and the conveyor belt where we place our bags. From there, groceries usually end up in the trunk of a car; a warm and cozy breeding ground for more bacteria. We unload our groceries and those diseases end up on the kitchen counter. Reusable bags are seldom if ever washed and often used for multiple purposes. They can be cross-contaminated with other food-born diseases such as Salmonella so, wash those bags. Further digging on this topic this I found an article in the Atlantic that claims, "Cotton tote bags exhibited the highest and most severe global-warming potential by far since they require more resources to produce and distribute."

Wash your plastic containers if you wish to eliminate waste. When I order takeout food or put away my groceries, I find myself collecting garbage bags full of boxes, plastic wrap, disposable containers, forks, spoons and knives. Is this necessary, I ask? Give these items a second life and reuse them. Volume wise, that is a lot more plastic than just my straw.

Food waste is a Global issue. People are starving on this planet. Proper containers keep food fresh when stored and ultimately consumed. Plastics don't break, they are hygienic and they have value.

I can do without a lot of plastic things. For example, I prefer to eat my meal on china and drink my beverage out of an actual glass. Food tastes better this way. We live in a throw away society; it's a symptom of abundance. Preserve and use what you have. Society wastes so many things. I see it everyday.

Shouldn't we be eliminating other things? For example, I love the Egg Bites at Starbucks and I usually eat them with my dainty fingers but, this is how they are always delivered - with a plastic fork taped to the bag. (Save that fork and put it in your kitchen drawer.) Starbuck's, you can keep the fork; but please, allow me my plastic straw.

Losing the straw is going to be a source of revenue for Starbucks as they take the opportunity to sell one instead with a cleaning brush included. Four replacement straws are only $12. (Only $12? Did I just say that?)

Some places offer paper straws but, I hate the way those make beverages taste. When I was sick as a kid, my mom always brought me warm milk mixed with honey and served it with a bent glass straw in my cup, so that I could lie down and drink it in bed. (Starbucks, I expect a commission for that idea.) Mom, a conservationist, grew up in Europe during WWII and didn't waste anything. I so do miss mom.

Is it fair to blame the production of plastic for the state of pollution in the world? Can't we be more responsible about how we dispose of our waste and how we use plastic? Is it wise to create broad, sweeping regulations to completely eliminate a product when it is such a useful material? Getting rid of all plastic is a pie in the sky proposition but, I believe we can create more intelligent solutions for getting rid of waste.

If you know me, you'll know I'm a thinker. One usually needs to do a little research to scratch the surface and get to the truth. Sometimes when I do, I create more questions. I'm not sure what the ultimate answer is to reducing plastic pollution - maybe impose stiff fines for those who litter. Some measures certainly make sense. Use logic. Most problems are multi-faceted. I try to be thoughtful in the way that I live and act accordingly. Life is a package deal. Nothing is perfect.

Wasting stuff isn't Green. Reusing things is. At least, that's what I think. May I please keep my plastic straw?

Lisa Terracina Rosenberg at Rosenberg Media

Branding & Marketing Strategist, New Business Development, Start-ups. Chief Story Teller & Content Creator. Idea Person: Turning Chaos into Order. Artist/Designer. Experience in STEM, Luxury Retail, Textiles Food & Italian Culture. La Vita é Bella