The impact of straws on the environment

In the great war against garbage, on a worldwide scale, the straw has been shown to be a great villain. Brazil has around 215 million inhabitants; if each person consumes 1 straw per day, approximately 78 billion straws would be used per year. Have you ever thought about it?

Concerned about these numbers, the incredible.club researched and brought information to share so that you can show this alarming data to everyone and help raise awareness.

Let’s start with a simple example. One of the busiest Mc Donald’s points in Brazil, in Itaquera, São Paulo, competes with the 10 largest chain stores in the world, serving around 6 thousand daily customers and selling about 69 thousand Big Macs per day.

Assuming that only half of the snacks are accompanied by soda with straws, and that this proportion of sales is true for 7 days a week, this would average 241,500 straws, 966,000 per month or 11.6 million straws per year.

understood how your decision whether or not to use a straw impacts the environment🇧🇷

The big issue is that straws are made of polypropylene and polystyrene and are not biodegradable. If they are disposed of incorrectly, they remain in the environment, disintegrate into smaller pieces (microplastics), which are eaten by animals or end up in the sea. Once at sea, they are distributed by ocean currents.

There is also the hypothesis that after being ingested by animals, microplastics can act as a route for introducing toxins into the food chain as a whole, reaching you. This phenomenon is known as bioaccumulation.

The straws gained a lot of attention from Brazilians after the viralization of the video in which marine biologists removed a straw stuck in the turtle’s nostril. See below:

Straws, of course, aren’t the only source of plastic waste in the oceans. PET bottles are another major source of this type of pollution. Now, imagine a restaurant that serves water or soda in a PET bottle with a straw?

But it is possible to do otherwise. Faced with all the problems caused by this type of product, the idea of ​​recycling straws has gained strength and, in some cases, created new business opportunities. Here, you have some tips on the subject.

There is already an international initiative to encourage restaurants and bars to eliminate the use of straws. On the Straw Wars website, it is possible to join the cause and, in addition, check the establishments that have joined the Guerra dos Canudos project in all parts of the world.

Rio de Janeiro is the first Brazilian capital to ban the use of straws. A law passed in July provides for a fine of 3,000 reais for establishments that fail to comply, with the possibility of doubling that amount in case of recurrence.

After all this information you may think you should never use straws again, but calm down. There are ways to replace them!

You can opt for what we call eco-friendly straws. They can be made from various materials such as paper. There are also straws that can serve as a kind of fixed accessory as they are not disposable — usually made of stainless steel. After using it, just wash it and save it for the next time.

Is there any company in your city that has banned the use of straws?

Tell us what you think about it and what measures you intend to take.