Americans use 500 million straws a day, an average of 1.6 straws per person per day. Although straws are such small items, they are so frequently used that there is a larger amount of them produced than other waste or plastic items, like plastic bags. Because straws are made from plastic they are never able to break down; over time they separate into smaller bits of plastic but never fully break down. Also they are made with a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA, which makes them non-recyclable.

Eight million tons of waste end up in our oceans each year, much of it single-use plastics, including straws. Plastic straws made the top 10 items picked up in beach cleanups in 2017 according to the USA International Coastal Cleanup - Ocean Conservancy. Plastic straws pollute and ruin the ocean and also kill marine life. Animals commonly ingest and choke on straws which inevitably kills them. Straws and single-use plastics are killing marine life at an increasing rate, and if action is not taken to prevent straws and plastic from entering the ocean, there will be more plastic than fish by 2050.

Some large organizations and even countries have taken action to ban or reduce the use of plastic straws. The EU has banned 10 types of single-use plastic, including plastic straws. In the

United States, progress has just begun. The Walt Disney Company has pledged to reduce straw usage with the goal of eventually eliminating them from all of their locations by the end of 2019. Starbucks has made a similar pledge, saying they have redesigned the cup used for their cold drinks, with the goal of reducing 1 billion straws per year. Seattle, as of July 1, became the fgirst major U.S. city to ban plastic straws entirely. New York city, Malibu, San Luis Obispo, Miami Beach, and Fort Myers have all made statements saying that they will be straw-free by 2020. There have also been foundations and movements bringing attention to the issue. The #stopsucking campaign has gained a lot of publicity.

Straw bans and movements like these are not going save the ocean entirely but they will help the problem. Activists hope that straws can be used as a gateway plastic, meaning if people stop using straws they will realize that they can stop using other single-use plastics. As a community on Martha’s Vineyard we can all help this issue individually by choosing to limit our use of straws in everyday life and by spreading the word about the damage of single-use plastic and straws.

I would like to encourage everyone to be mindful of the plastic they are using, and what it will do to the environment. So the next time, you have the choice, just say no to single-use plastic straws.

Caroline Cromwell

Brookline

The writer is a high school sophomore and Vineyard summer visitor.