Students work to eliminate plastic straws from campus
They may be small, but plastic straws are a big problem.
Single-use plastic straws can鈥檛 be recycled (they slip through recycling machinery), they don鈥檛 biodegrade and many end up in the world鈥檚 oceans, where they pose significant health risks to sea life.
Americans use them to suck up more than 500 million drinks a day, according to some estimates. Anna Laprise 鈥�20 and Avatar Simpson 鈥�20 would like us to stop.
鈥淚t鈥檚 become something consumers do mindlessly,鈥� said Laprise, a government major. 鈥淓xcept in cases where straws are necessary for medical reasons, we don鈥檛 really need them. It鈥檚 very easy to just not take the straw.鈥�
After raising awareness about the national 鈥淪top Sucking鈥� campaign at Mystic Aquarium as part of a community project for the Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment, Laprise and Simpson began researching straw usage on campus. They found that the College鈥檚 three coffee shops used upwards of 100,000 plastic straws a year.
Laprise and Simpson approached the Student Government Association with a proposal to replace single-use plastic straws, which cost approximately a half-cent each, with biodegradable paper straws, which cost approximately two cents. SGA voted to fund the initiative through the Sustainable Projects Fund.
鈥淓liminating plastic straws was a very simple, relatively cheap action that greatly increases 糖心TV鈥檚 sustainability,鈥� said Simpson, an environmental studies major.
Laprise and Simpson are also raising awareness on campus and in the community about other ways to cut down on disposable straw use. They suggest purchasing a reusable straw made of silicone, metal or bamboo, for example, or carrying one鈥檚 own reusable tumbler or mug.
鈥淲alking around campus, it鈥檚 not hard to carry a coffee cup without a lid or a straw. We don鈥檛 need sippy cups,鈥� Laprise said.
