Although plastic straws are small, they are difficult to recycle and can cause serious harm to our environment and other organisms. Faced with the global challenges brought about by disposable plastic pollution, many governments around the world have set off a “plastic limit” boom this year, and catering giants have stopped supplying or promised to stop supplying plastic straws.
Introduced a “plastic limit order”
Recently, the United States KFC, South Korea’s well-known chain coffee shop “An Qi Linuo coffee” and so on have stopped providing plastic straws in the store; McDonald’s also intends to switch to paper straws in the UK and Ireland stores in 2019, trials in some stores in the United States Plastic straws; all Starbucks coffee chain stores plan to bid farewell to plastic straws by 2020, and are expected to reduce more than 1 billion plastic straws per year.
The British government announced earlier this year that it plans to promote a new “plastic limit order” in England to completely ban the sale of disposable plastic products such as plastic straws, plastic stir bars and cotton swabs with plastic rods.
In May of this year, the European Commission proposed a “plastic limit order” scheme, recommending the ban of disposable plastic products such as plastic straws, and replacing the plastic straws with straws made of more environmentally friendly and sustainable materials.
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Before the EU ban was officially launched, many supermarkets in Germany have launched the “plastic limit” program. The German Reve Group and the supermarket chain “Leidel” announced in July that they would stop providing plastic straw products at the sales outlets. The supermarket chain “Edka” also said that it would develop reusable items to replace disposable plastic products.
More and more local governments in the United States are also addressing environmental concerns that may arise from plastic straws, and some cities in Florida, New Jersey, and California have banned plastic straws. In July of this year, Seattle became the first major US city to ban plastic straws. Some cities such as New York City and San Francisco have also introduced legislation to ban plastic straws.
Small straw big hazard
At present, the consumption of plastic straws in the world is staggering. In the United States alone, about 500 million plastic straws are discarded every day, and the total length of the joints can be two and a half times around the earth.
Because plastic straws are difficult to reuse, most food and beverage stores do not classify them as recyclable waste, so the ultimate fate of plastic straws falls into landfills or floats on the ocean. A plastic pipette has a service life of only about 20 minutes, but it takes more than 200 years to naturally degrade into small molecules. Plastic straws that enter the waters are often eaten by animals such as sea turtles, seabirds, and fish.
British Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Goff said in a statement that disposable plastic products are a scourge to the ocean, causing serious damage to the environment and wildlife, and people must take action to protect the marine ecology. British waste disposal company “commercial waste” listed plastic straws as “hard to recycle” items, calling it “the ultimate waste of mankind.”
Statistics show that more than 8 million tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year, including plastic straws, which has a serious impact on marine life, fisheries and tourism, resulting in economic losses of 8 billion US dollars. Plastic waste kills millions of seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals and countless fish every year. Studies have shown that if the status quo is ignored, by 2050, the weight of plastic waste in the ocean will exceed the total weight of fish.
Plastic waste not only harms marine life, but also threatens human health. Plastic waste will gradually break down in the ocean, forming a large number of microplastic particles less than 5 mm in diameter. The toxic and harmful substances contained in the microplastic particles themselves and the toxic and harmful substances adsorbed in the water will accumulate through the food chain and may eventually enter the human body.
Advocate rejection of disposable plastic products
Penny Lyndeck, a molecular biologist at the Plymouth Ocean Research Institute in the United Kingdom, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the “plastic limit order” will help consumers change the habit of using plastic straws, and consumers will soon be able to adapt to alternatives. If more and more companies promote alternatives such as paper straws, the cost of replacement may fall, and the cost factor will not make it difficult for merchants to comply with the “plastic limit order”.
On this year’s World Environment Day, the United Nations issued a message calling on consumers to refuse to use disposable plastic products, purchase recyclable goods, and develop reasonable spending habits in their lives. Consumers can’t just play the role of a participant, but should also be a driving factor in driving changes in the behavior of suppliers and retailers.
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