Stop the Use of Straw Plastics

STOP THE USE OF STRAW PLASTICS
[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]
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Introduction
Plastic-straws are plastic materials that can be used once after which they become obsolete and
disposed-of completely. They are very light making them be easily portable hence have a single
use. The materials with which the plastic straws materials are made of (polypropylene) make it
difficult to be put back to use again. The use of plastic straws has gained momentum in recent
times. People like using plastic straws for drinking liquids like soft drinks. It is believed that
plastic straws can be of great benefit more so for the people living with disability since it is
cheap and easily obtainable (Arora, 2018). The single use of plastic straws was a blessing and the
same time a curse as well too many countries. This, therefore, has facilitated a serious revolution
in commercial-sector and end-user convenience.
Why plastic is bad to the planet
It's essential to restrain your utilization of plastic for a couple of reasons. Initially, it takes energy
and assets to make an article, which intends to make plastic, we should make contamination and
penance diminishing assets, for example, water and non-renewable energy sources. Numerous
things made out of slim plastic, for example, straws and basic supply sacks, are intended to be
utilized once. Much of the time, it's better for the earth to make and purchase items that keep
going quite a while.
Be that as it may, the inconvenience doesn't finish there. Most plastics don't break down or
biodegrade when we hurl them (McCallum, 2018). Plastics can remain in landfills for many
years. Also, plastic in the sea glides around as little pieces (called microplastics) that can harm
creatures and hurt nature.

Straws are just a single little piece of the issue. People have made about 9.1 billion tons of plastic
since creating the material, and we don't reuse its greater part. Straws most likely make up an
exceptionally, extremely little level of our rubbish around the world. However, they've as of late
gotten a great deal of consideration as a result of the fact that they are so hard to reuse.
However, the use of plastic straws has several effects both to the environment and human life
situation (McNicholas and Cotton, 2019). According to the united nation report on the use of
plastic straws, it is believed that more than 8 million tones of plastic waste (plastic straws being
inclusive) enter into the ocean annually. Further, it is estimated that the annual production of
plastic straws in Europe alone is about 25.3 billion.
As a result of these unwarranted effects on the use of plastic straws, United Nations
Environmental department has intensively increased and embarked on the serious global
campaign on stoppage of plastic straws to help salvage marine life. The environmental condition
or ecosystem has been at risk due to the excessive use of plastic straws polluting the
environment. It is estimated that about 80% of litter that goes to our oceans is made up plastics
causing a lot of danger to the marine life situations, tourism-sector and fisheries (Molstad et al.,
2018). The overall economic impact of this is estimated to be more 8 billion US Dollars in
destruction to marine life-ecosystem. This is the main reasons why several countries have
embarked on a serious global campaign to stop this bad menace of plastic straws.
Therefore, the objective of this study is to ensure increased campaign to help stop the use of
plastic straws in our society.

Effects of Plastic Straws on Marine Life
The use of plastic straws is of great importance due to its affordability and lightweight more
when taking drinks. However, the major concern is the plastic straws environmental effect more
so when they reach the ocean waters (Moran, 2018). The big problem of plastic straws is that
they are light in weight hence can be easily be blown out of the dump site or bins. Therefore,
they can be easily get carried away by wind and running water that ends up into the ocean water.
Furthermore, when the plastic straws are dumped, they can fill up our land. In the landfills, birds
scavenge and digest these plastic straws. When birds eat or feed on these plastic straws, plastic
straws get stuck and stay in their stomachs for long hours making them suffer and die. Through
this process, plastic straws end escaping into the waterway after the decomposition of these dead
birds.
Plastic straws get deposited along the coastal beaches with other waste products and their
collection has proved to be very difficult. It can be estimated that plastic straws are the seventh
items mostly collected waste-materials along the coastal beaches (Ramirez and George, 2019).
According to Wilcox, Van Sebille and Hardesty (2015) argument, it is believed that plastic-
pollution majorly in ocean-water has become a global threat that has led to the increased
concentration level of about 580,000 square kilometres. The production of plastic straws equally
has been increasing in an exponential manner. Following the research carried out by Wilcox,
Van Sebille and Hardesty (2015) performing spatial-risk analysis and using their risk model on
the plastic problem, they found out that the most affected by plastic waste materials are the ocean
waters that have exposed marine life to serious danger. They suggested that plastic straws if not