21 Jan 2018 ‘No to plastic straws’ movement takes off in SA
The Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town is calling on all South Africans to put down their drinking straws because we are facing a “catastrawphe”, and something must be done to save our seas.
The aquarium says that hundreds of billions of plastic straws are used globally, damaging ecosystems, killing wildlife and contributing to the pollution of our atmosphere. That’s why all food kiosks inside the Two Oceans Aquarium are now using plastic-free, PLA drinking straws and packaging.
While these look and feel like regular straws, they will break down if disposed of in a correctly functioning compost heap, the Aquarium says.
The aquarium’s decision to axe plastic straws has made other major retailers follow suit, with popular restaurant chain Ocean Basket recently announcing on Twitter that they too would no longer be using straws in their stores.
According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050.
In December 2017 South Africa joined the other 193 UN countries and signed a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea.
Once in the ocean, plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller “microplastics” – which can be consumed by marine animals and find their way into the human food chain.
See more on the Two Oceans Straws Suck campaign here – great stuff!
Related reading:
An alternative to plastic: new range of edible straws
A UK-based disposables manufacturer has developed a novel range of edible straws, which consumers can eat – rather than discard – after use.
Another edible, biodegradable straw
There’s a war abrewing against the plastic drinking straw, and now comes news of another eco-friendly option, the Lolistraw.