Single-use plastic cutlery contributes majorly to plastic pollution—they make up 40% of a larger scope in pollution, in fact. Witnessing this overwhelming plastic waste is heartbreaking, mostly when it's avoidable. 

I'm a 14-year-old student who thinks a plastic filled world is an unnatural world, and I hope we can make a big change if we look to the little things. I've watched as countless plastic spoons, forks, and knives are tossed into bins at my school canteen, made to clutter landfills and the ocean and deplore our planet further.

The statistics are horrid- it's estimated that 40 billion or so plastic utensils are used once and discarded each year globally, which makes a staggering 110 million a day. A large part of this waste comes from schools, where single-use plastics are common in cafeterias/canteens. It’s important to realize that these plastic pieces take literal centuries to decompose, impacting marine life and ecosystems negatively in the process. 

By replacing single-use plastic utensils with durable, metal alternatives that can be washed well and sterilized to reuse, schools can make a significant impact on reducing plastic waste. Not only does this help reduce pollution but can also educate students on the importance of environmental responsibility and sustainability.

We urge school administrators, government officials, and policymakers to implement mandatory bans on single-use plastic utensils within all school cafeterias. All a person needs to understand the sheer weight of plastic on our planet is a look at the landfills of the world. Let's slowly untangle our world from this mess and try to reduce the amount of plastic we use up.

Sign this petition to ban single-use plastic utensils in schools, and together, let’s make a cleaner world- not just for us but for every single organism in Earth that depends on it.