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NO MORE CLUTCHING AT THE PLASTIC STRAW: They are disappearing from Wetherspoons UK pubs as environmental campaign gathers pace!

27/9/2017

2 Comments

 
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Tracy Ellis Ross drinking FIJI Water out of a straw with the cap still on
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Fiji Water Now Has Built-In Straw Bottle Caps,
For Celebrities and Women

Straws are the new focus of environmentalist efforts to reduce the amount of plastic that makes its way to landfill and into the oceans

JD Wetherspoon [in the United Kingdom] has stopped automatically putting plastic straws in drinks, becoming the latest pub chain to put an end to the “wasteful” practice.

The pub chain says it will only use biodegradable paper straws from January 2018 in a move it claims will stop 70 million plastic straws entering landfill or making their way into the world’s oceans each year.

The announcement comes as a wider campaign known as Refuse the Straw gathers pace. It aims to stop pub chains and restaurants handing out the plastic straws which are thought to take up to 500 years to decompose.

Wetherspoon has joined All Bar One as well as smaller chains Oakman Inns and the Liberation Group, which stopped handing out plastic straws earlier this year.

Bars and restaurants have recently come under pressure from Refuse the Straw, which started in the US and is backed by designer Vivienne Westwood. It hopes that a simple change by pubs and restaurants will shift consumer behaviour by ending the expectation that a straw will be provided with every drink. 

A similar shift came in the UK after a 5p charge was introduced for plastic bags, resulting in an 85 per cent reduction in the number people use.

The Plastic Pollution Coalition which backs the campaign says more than 500 million single-use plastic straws are used each day in the US alone. 

What difference will it make?Much of the concern around throwaway plastic centres on the impact it has on the world’s oceans. This week, scientists discovered that plastic is now even polluting remote floes in the Arctic Ocean. Large pieces of plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene break down into smaller pieces which are then consumed by marine wildlife and move up the food chain. A video that went viral earlier this year feature the grisly discovery that a sick beached whale had 30 plastic bags in its stomach.

Plastic pollution has consistently increased over the last 20 years and environmentalists say that plastic straws should be on our hit list, along with carrier bags, single-use plastic bottles and microbeads from cosmetics as items to ban. The Government announced a ban on the use of plastic microbeads in wash-off health and beauty products earlier this year and Scottish MPs announced a plastic bottle deposit scheme earlier this month but straws have so far evaded legislators’ crosshairs.

That should change, according to  Mark Hall of Busineswaste.co.uk who thinks consumers should pay a tax if they want a straw. Ultimately, plastic straws are unnecessary, he says.

“Why on earth do you need a straw in your gin and tonic anyway?” he told the BBC.

“The industry can do something about it, but so can we as consumers - it's easy to say 'no straw please'.” Source: The Independent (UK), 27 September 2017

Plastic Straws

An environmental hazard


500 million - plastic straws used every day in the US
70 million - plastic straws that will be saved by Wetherspoon's move
500 years - how long it takes for each straw to biodegrade
85 per cent - drop in the use of plastic bags after 5p charge introduced
30 - number of plastic bags found in the stomach of a whale in Norway

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2 Comments
Rajend Naidu
27/9/2017 11:28:17 pm

Editor,
Thinking globally, acting locally.
Some are doing that. And, some are paying lip-service to doing that.
" Think globally, act locally" urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities. Long before government's began enforcing environmental laws, individuals were coming together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them " ( Wikipedia ).
... The phrase " Think global, act local" was first used in the context of environmental challenges. If you want to achieve change and improvement, you can't wait for global legislation or global action. You could act to reduce your own environmental impact ... Acting locally starts to address what you see as a global issue ( source : The Telegraph in association with University of Warwick's Festival of Imagination 4 Sept 2015 ).
How much of thinking globally, acting locally actually happening in Fiji?
I know a lot of globe trotting by the political leadership happening but what's happening at home?
What's happening at home is a true measure of commitment to this pressing global issue.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Rajend Naidu
28/9/2017 10:50:50 pm

Editor,
The Plastic Peril
Sir David Attenborough was left heartbroken watching an albatross feed its chick plastic whilst filming the ocean birds for his new blockbuster series.
The poignant sequence for Blue Planet 2 of the parent plying pieces of discarded rubbish to its youngster rather than squid brought home the plastic pollution disaster facing the sea, says the veteran wildlife broadcaster.
Speaking to Unearthed, Greenpeace's environmental news platform, Sir David was asked whether plastic pollution will feature in Blue Planet 2...
He replies " Plastics are of crucial importance..."
Studies show how 90 % of the world's seabirds are likely to have plastics in their guts.
With reports that huge amounts of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste produced by mankind since the 1950 are now swilling around in oceans and on beaches.
Greenpeace say Sir David's words should be a wake up call for governments and businesses to act... ( read more in ' David Attenborough left heartbroken after Albatrosses plastic peril ' by Stuart Winter in express.co. U.K. 25/09/17 ).
How many governments and businesses are doing that?
How many are continuing business as usual in pursuit of the capitalist agenda which has historically paid scant attention to the pollution and environmental degradation it was causing?
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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