Commentary: Why straws? There are alternatives

In 2015, the video of a straw being removed from the nostril of a sea turtle reinforced efforts to eliminate plastic straws from the waste stream. The video went viral with images of the turtle bleeding and writhing in pain as the long, embedded straw was slowly removed.

They are so small — plastic straws and coffee stirrers. With all the other single use plastics, why are many countries, cities, corporations and restaurants implementing bans on single-use plastic straws? Maybe because this is a habit that can easily be changed.

Drinking tubes are not new. Over 7,000 years ago, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia used hollow plant stems to drink beer from vats too large to move. Gold tubes with precious stones have been found in tombs, probably for use by the socially elite. Since the 16th century a special straw called “bombilla” has been used to drink yerba mate in South America. This tea has many plant particles, so there is a strainer on the end. Still in use today, the bombilla has been made of bamboo, sugar cane, metal and glass.

In the 1800s the rye straw was invented, but it quickly disintegrated into small pieces in the drink. In 1888 the paper straw came into being when Marvin Stone, an American inventor, rolled paper along a pencil and secured it with glue. The paper straw was in heavy use until the 1960s when wartime manufacturers, seeking another use for plastic-making apparatus, developed the plastic straw. Refrigerators became common, and the new plastic straws were better for sipping cold beverages. Usage increased with the appearance of the automobile and fast foods. In 1950, 1.5 million tons of plastic were produced worldwide, but by 2015 that number increased to 322 million tons of plastic.

Fast forward half a century when Charles Moore discovered the Great Garbage Patch in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean. Studies have shown that the plastic outweighs the zooplankton that feeds marine life by a factor of 5:2. The alarm was raised about global use of plastics and their infinite lifetime as tiny particles found in blood, air, feces — everywhere.

While small, every plastic straw ever made is still in existence. Plastic straws are common in beach cleanup, accounting for 5-7% of all waste collected from beaches in 2017. The actual number of straws used by us daily is very difficult to determine. In 2011, a 9-year-old boy named Milo Cress called some manufacturers and came up with an estimate of 500 million plastic straws in daily use by Americans. While widely criticized by market researchers as too high — the number sparked an outcry against the use of these straws. Milo started Be Straw Free, a campaign project with manufacturers, restaurants, schools and environmental groups to reduce the use of disposable plastic straws.

Environmental groups have expanded the message. Alternatives to plastic straws have proliferated — Amazon.com has hundreds of listings under “drinking straws reusable” — products of various shapes made from silicon, glass, metal and bamboo, many including small brushes for cleaning. The listing includes disposable plastic straws, but the reality is less than ideal since they may require special handling.

The downside is cost — paper straws cost much more than plastics — 2.5 cents vs. a half cent, and that cost is passed on to the consumer. Smarter alternatives are reusable straws, or none. Before mindlessly grabbing a straw, we should stop and think — can I sip out of the cup? Many services now offer sippy cups — unfortunately the tops are made of plastic.

Helen Hamilton is a retired educator from York County.