According to the Ocean Conservancy, volunteers pick up more than 400,000 plastic straws from beaches around the world, each year. As an industry committed to developing innovations that help make life better, we know that there are a multitude of ways that plastic straws can enhance safety, and promote sanitary conditions. However, increasingly, consumers are thinking more about their habits, and about how they can make a difference.
Americas Plastics Makers® think that straws-on-demand makes sense. Consumers should be able to request a straw when they want one, and decline a straw if they do not. For that reason, we’ve developed a product stewardship position on straws. In a press release distributed on January 26th Steve Russell, Vice President of Plastics here at the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said, “we support many initiatives that help prevent marine litter, and we believe providing straws through an ‘on-demand’ system gives customers choice and helps prevent waste by ensuring that straws are distributed only to those who need them.”
As a member of the Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Alliance® (TFSA), our view is in congruity with their updated membership principals. Ocean plastic is a global challenge that our industry takes seriously, but we cannot succeed alone. It will take all of us—industry, NGOs, world governments and consumers to help keep trash of all kinds out of our oceans. Learn more about some of the work plastics makers have underway at www.marinelittersolutions.org.
