We need to find an alternative to plastic straws

Plastic straws cause problems

On the Greenpeace website there is a video of a team of people trying to pull out a foreign object from the nostril of a turtle.

The footage runs for something over eight minutes and it is clearly challenging to get the item out.

It is also clear to see that the turtle is distressed throughout the procedure.

At the end, the team is successful and the object slides out and it is revealed that it is a plastic straw.

Quite how an object this long has managed to get so far up the turtle’s nose is hard to work out but efforts to prevent pollution of this nature has got to be a good thing.

Leadership required

When you look around different forums on this subject, particularly on news websites, there seem to be plenty of comments that say, ‘it doesn’t matter what we do, others are far worse polluters’.

Well, do you know what? It does matter what we do. This type of problem will only be solved if some leadership is shown.

True, the physical effect may be limited to start with. If the place that says ‘we are not going to use plastic straws anymore, doesn’t use that many, it won’t cut the number of plastic straws in the oceans by many. But what it will do is send a message out that someone is willing to lead on this.

As more people turn their attention to the problem, so the problem starts to be reduced.

Ultimately, individuals can only change their own actions, but collectively, the effect of these actions multiplies and becomes greater with each person who adopts them.

Collective action can make a difference

Buying power is an amazing thing. If, collectively, the message is there that people don’t want to take their drink through a plastic straw, so demand will go down and the manufacturers will see their market decline.

Obviously, there are socio-economic implications to this scenario, as such behavioural change could lead to people losing their livelihoods. But humankind is nothing if not adaptable.

There is nothing to say the manufacturers of plastic straws cannot come up with suitable alternative so people can continue to drink through a straw.

Swizzle and friends stocks metal straws within our plastic-free range. A set of four comes in its own bag and there is also a brush to clean them with between uses.

The advantage is they are reusable, so you won’t need to get a new straw for each drink, so they don’t end up in the ocean, for a turtle to breathe in.

Further reading

But if you want to stick with a single-use straw, there is always pasta. Click on here to find out more.

The footage of the operation to remove the straw from the turtle’s nose is quite upsetting, but if you would like to see it, visit the Greenpeace website, by clicking here.

If you would like to take a step towards reducing your own use of plastic straws, visit the Swizzle and friends online store, to buy your own set of reusable straws. Click here.

To read more blogs from Swizzle and friends, take a look here.